Should Businesses be Blogging? SEOptimise on BBC OxfordCategory: All news, blogging, seoptimise | |
1 09 2009 |
This morning I had a great opportunity to speak live on BBC Oxford radio to Louisa Hannan about blogging.
It takes 2-3 mins to get into talking about blogging and understandably during the interview there were a few points I researched but didn’t talk about. So I’ve listed below some of the key messages which I would recommend to businesses getting started or considering blogging.
Direct YouTube link: Kevin Gibbons Blogging Interview – BBC Oxford
What is blogging?
- Blogging is in the form of an online journal and it’s an extremely popular method of publishing news, information, opinions and content.
- Blogging is easy to get started with, whether for a personal or business site. You can easily signup for free using sites such as WordPress or Blogger.
Advantages to blogging
- You can reach a worldwide audience of 1.5 billion people online.
- Builds credibility.
- Brand awareness – indirectly advertising your business by attracting potential customers.
- Helps to build useful relationships and contacts within an industry.
- Instantly deliver your message online.
- Great way of staying up-to-date and writing about latest, ever-changing trends.
- Adds a personal touch to a brand, helping to build and control your online reputation.
How SEOptimise use blogging
- Blogging is open to all size of business, so we have managed to punch above our weight in comparison to larger competitors.
- We’ve established a strong reputation, highly subscribed blog and been frequently quoted/referenced by leading search bloggers and the media.
- In 2009 (to-date) we have received 192,000 visits to our blog! 30,000 alone during the last month.
- Time-consuming, but the effort can be justified based on the potential return. Reasonably well targeted paid search advertising clicks are likely to cost in the region of £1 per click. At 30,000 visits per month, blogging is looking far more appealing!
Blogging Facts
- Hubspot research reports that companies with a blog have 55% more visitors and 97% more links to their website!
- Tumblr reported 255m pageviews in July and 650,000 new posts per day, working out at 6 new posts per second! Thanks for the help finding these Bas!
Type of content to post
- Breaking news
- Useful tips
- Topical content/opinions/advice
- Controversial topics (be careful though!)
Tips – Do’s and Don’ts
- Write interesting content – such as the ideas listed above.
- Write for the web, brighten up your posts, use bullet points and keep them concise.
- Don’t re-report recent news, add your own angle or opinion on what this means.
- Do link to other industry bloggers, try to connect with them so that you can help promote each other. Thanks Darren for some more ideas.
Example of blogging working effectively
Pearn Kandola (disclaimer, they are a client) wrote a psychology analysis of The Apprentice during the TV show earlier in the year. What worked well was:
- They reached a far wider audience, seeing this is one of the BBC’s most popular shows.
- They talked about a topical discussion, many people would discuss who has been fired following the show. So this helped to spark discussion.
- They used social media, such as Twitter to promote themselves to viewers of The Apprentice.
- And they got it right! Boosting their credibility by successfully predicting the candidates who would last the longest, who would eventually get hired and who the most likely to be the next one fired.
Hope you liked the interview and please let me know what your top blogging tips are?
© SEOptimise. Signup for the SEOptimise monthly newsletter and hire us for Search Engine Marketing!
Should Businesses be Blogging? SEOptimise on BBC Oxford
Related posts:
- Blogging and the Art of Etiquette
- 50 Blog Post Ideas for Business Blogging
- Personal Branding: SEO Blogging as the American Dream
You must be logged in to post a comment.