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Using Blogs to Improve Your Online Presence

Small businesses need as much help as they can get to push them ahead of their competition, especially if they have some local competition. If you have a small business, you probably know this all too well. Without a large amount of money to spare like some of the bigger companies, you need to use your resources wisely. That’s why small business SEO is so important.

 

Does Blogging Help Your SEO?

The big question. Does having a blog really do anything? It does! You might not necessarily be seeing a dramatic difference right away, but as long as your content is being optimized, a blog should bring in a higher quantity of traffic to your small business’s website.

The important thing about it is that you won’t only be increasing the quantity of traffic. You’ll be increasing the quality of traffic as well! This is due to blogs being able to target a specific audience – the audience that is interested in your product or service.

If someone searches for something related to your product on Google, it will hopefully be your blog they click on. If it’s helpful enough, they’ll be more likely to give your product or service a try.

Keeping People Engaged Longer

Have you ever heard of bounce rate? The goal is to lower your bounce rate as much as possible, which means keeping people on your website rather than letting them bounce after looking at just one page. Having well-written blogs can help keep people interested, making them more likely to stick around on your website.

Similarly, longer blogs (around 2,000 words) tend to rank higher on Google searches compared to shorter ones on the same topic. So, that’s something to keep in mind, whether you are writing them on your own or working with SEO professionals.

 

The Importance of Professional Help

Turning to professional help is beneficial with many things in life and SEO is no exception. Many people assume that it will be simple enough to utilize SEO strategies on their own, but it’s a little more complex than you might think.

Think of it as if you’re offering a service for your small business. Maybe people can do it on their own, but you’re the professional. You know exactly how to get the best results in the most efficient way possible.

The same goes for SEO. Digital marketing companies know how to give you the advantage over your competition, potentially resulting in more leads and more conversions.

 

How to Get the Most Out of Your Blogs

So, you know SEO is important, but how do you get the most out of your optimization? What are the best strategies? There are a lot of different steps, and we won’t even get to all of them here, but let’s look at a sample of proven SEO strategies for your small business blogs.

 

Use Keywords

Every SEO blog needs keywords, but it’s important not to overdo it. There’s a fine balance of including relevant ones while not falling into keyword stuffing. Google will reward you for proper use but penalize you for using them too often.

 

Image Optimization

Did you know you can optimize your images too? When posting online, you can change the title and alt text of an image. This is another opportunity to utilize your keywords by providing a description of the images you post within the blog.

 

Don’t Forget the Meta Description

When you search for something on Google, you’ll see the title of the result, the URL, and a description of what the page is about. If you don’t complete this meta description on your own, an excerpt from the page will be automatically selected, but this doesn’t use the opportunity to its fullest.

Most times, this section won’t properly explain the point of the page if it’s completed automatically. Additionally, manually filling it out allows you to add your keywords.

 

Custom URL

Google will use your URL to gain a better understanding of your blog’s topic, so you should always be customizing it to get your desired point across.

 

See How Small Business SEO Can Provide a Much-Needed Boost

Blogs can be a very useful tool for bringing in quality leads to your website, which in turn can create more conversions. Your goal as a small or local business is to stay one step ahead of the competition. If you put in the extra effort to provide well-written blogs on your company’s website, you’ll be seeing an SEO boost that they might not be getting.