Each week, clients will ask us at CBS, “What is the best way to build our website’s search engine rankings?”
Our first answer back to them is nearly always, “Add a blog and/or a forum to your site.”
Why should you? Well, search engines love it when your website has fresh relevant content added to it on a regular basis. That up-to-date content can come in a variety of forms. The easiest and best way we have found is to keep posting articles and opinions to a blog or introduce new topics for a variety of viewpoints into a forum.
You see, a blog generally represents one point of view from a single writer or designated group of writers, sort of like “the firm’s view.” In contrast, a forum is usually more open with a variety of views presented, often with back and forth discussion on a subject. Either way, your posts to blogs or forums, when properly optimized for search, will tend to rank very well on Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines. And inserting new posts is easy, requiring little technical training.
Regular posts to blogs and forums are worthwhile for much more than just search engine placement. They can also help to strengthen your business and customer relationships. Rather than being canned website “boiler plate copy,” thoughtful posts are often far more engaging to the reader. They can relate to the issues of the day or to those of the industry and tailor them personally to the intended audience.
In this way, your blog or forum posts can pull site visitors into the mindset of your organization or to the specific writer (e.g. your CEO or president). This has the effect of personalizing the firm, and encouraging feedback and interaction with new or existing customers. You are building relationships one post at a time.
More than just boosting rankings or connecting with customers, blogs allow your organization the opportunity to demonstrate market expertise and leadership. By using posts to blogs and forums to weigh-in on current trends in the field or to comment on the latest issues of importance to customers and potential customers, your organization can establish its “bona fides” in the industry.
From this position or authority and expertise, you can show concern for a cause and for the customer at the same time. This allows your organization to project those values in a positive and immediate way to customers and prospects.
Wow! You no doubt saying that CBS puts a lot of weight on blogs and forums, and you would be correct. But here is the best part — setting up and maintaining a blog or forum is very cost-effective, in terms of both time and money. Set-up costs are usually under $200, and content can be written by you or someone else in your company or picked up from an outside source (as long as you include the proper attributions and links). And blogs can be done on the WordPress or .NET platform.
With all these factors pointing out the wisdom of attaching a blog or forum to a website — enhanced search engine rankings, fresh, engaging content for your site visitors, and an opportunity to showcase your authority in the field — if you don’t already a blog or forum, how come? And, if you would like for CBS to install one or answer any question you might have, give us a call today. You’ll be glad you did.