Blog: noun - a personal website or web page on which an individual records opinions, links to other sites, etc. on a regular basis.
Many attorneys, accountants, financial services providers and other professionals overlook a very important component to their online Search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing strategy: blogging. Blogging is an excellent way to bolster a website's content with useful pages full of relevant information appealing to your target audience. It also helps to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise in your given field, helping to develop thought leadership. But, most importantly, it allows you to engage with customers, keeping them coming back to your site to read more.
Provide Relevant Content
Any good SEO plan includes producing a lot of relevant, keyword rich content. While a great deal of that can by layered into static web pages with varying degrees of success, one of the best ways to boost a site's relevance in the eyes of search engines is by blogging. Regularly writing for your company's blog will create a steady stream of fresh content, and regularly updated information is important for search engines.
Blogging keeps your site relevant to visitors, as newer articles can deal with recent changes in your industry, items of interest in the news, or changes that are occurring in your business. Of course, each of these blog posts can include words search engines will rank as relevant for your target audience's most frequent searches, and the more legitimate, relevant content your site has, the more likely it is to climb organically to the top of search engine results.
You can also help this climb to the top of search results by broadcasting links to your articles across all of your social networks and getting others to start liking your articles, following you, and subscribing to your feeds. “Social Buzz” is one of the criteria reviewed by search engines in ranking pages, so getting others talking about you is one of the best things you can do for both word-of-mouth marketing and search engine optimization.
Build Your Reputation
Another huge advantage of blogging is the boost it can give to both a company's reputation and the notoriety of the author. With the introduction of Google's authoring credits, those who write blog posts and claim them on Google+ will often have those articles rank much higher in search results. And, as an added bonus, the post will feature a picture of the author (taken from the author's Google+ profile) next to the link in search results.
This equates to greater recognition of the author and the company's thought leadership. And, best of all, this makes it possible for one to become a recognized and published author without having to rely on others to get that first article in print. Further, integration of your posts into your social media strategy will expand your audience, make a great first impression and help you exercise direct control over the things people are saying about you by starting the conversation yourself with your blog posts.
Engage the Reader
Most importantly, regular blogging allows attorneys, accountants, financial services providers and other professionals engage with their prospects, clients and referral sources. When a potential client starts finding information on a company's site they think is useful and interesting, they are more likely to return for more. Even if they sign up as a client after their first visit, continuing to update your blog may help keep a client informed of current events affecting their interests or spur them to take additional action requiring your services based on recommendations made in your blog posts.
For example, someone might hire you to handle one relatively simple matter, but after becoming acquainted with your blog, realizes there are a number of other tasks they need or want to get done. You can also use your posts to let clients know about special events and offers, changes in personnel, or other news affecting your company they may find interesting.
Start Your Blog Now
Why wait to get started blogging? It is easy to do yourself or we can help you get started with one of our talented and experienced content writers. So, contact The Friedman Group today and watch how your bottom line starts to grow.
