Do you blog yet?  (If not, comment below, let’s get you started…)

The majority of the client sites we do today are in the blog format. The benefits of the blog format are many, but the one I appreciate the most is the ability to update the site from anywhere there is an Internet connection, even here from the “lovely” Newark International Airport… more about that on my next blog post…

Now, I wanted to share my top three reasons why all small businesses should blog:

1.) Besides the ease of updating, I love the ease of use. No need to have any advanced IT experience; if you know any of the current word processing programs you can blog. You can post graphics and pictures on a blog, but blogs really are a written medium. An important caveat: If you don’t like to write, you might not like blogging.

Once the Impression Engineers’ content management system is set-up on your URL, you can handle all the updates, adding and deleting content, even adding events to your calendars as you like. (Of course, we still manage your site, doing all or part—it’s up to you how much you do and how much we do—perfect for the busy professional.)
Blogs are a good way to get your message out, stay connected and build community. Yes, they are usually written by one person (or company) but your wider network can comment and leave references to their sites, you can comment back and forth, it’s a great way to get the discussion going. By the way, if you have comments about any of our articles, please leave them in the comment section. We love hearing from you and we do read them, they are important ways for us to now how our friends and clients are.

2.) Trackbacks are another way to get your blog noticed.  An opportunity to connect with a wider audience and build a community is a strong benefit for the small business with a limited ad budget and for fee-for-service providers such as consultants. Speaking of limited budgets, consider offering your blog via a RSS feed. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a web format used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries or podcasts. It is a better solution than posting it on a static web page or your site or email to get your message to your target audience. RSS also solves the problem of possible spam.

3.) Search engines LOVE blogs and it is a great low cost way to market. The cost of generating traffic from search engine marketing is much lower than traditional media such as direct mail. Organic searches are, of course free, but even the pay-per-click ads can be very cost effective, even in the most competitive of markets such as weight loss and diets. Because as the term implies, you only pay for your ad hen someone clicks on it to view your home or landing page. Consider blogging as a low cost way to up your search engine ranking.  If your site does not rank high enough to be on the first or second search page of the major search engines, you might as well be in last place.

Contact us if you would like Impression Engineers to work with you on search engine optimization. Search engine optimization and good content management systems, such as our personalized blogging format are 2 keys to better rankings for your site.