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What is a blog and why should I have one?

Originating in the late 1990’s, a blog is a diary-style entry posted online to inform readers of latest feelings or thoughts on particular subjects.

Most commonly, you will find that a blog is built into a website, with posts appearing in reverse chronological order, showing newest articles up the top. Other times, individuals who choose to blog about particular subjects may also use the free publishing service, Blogger, which was purchased by Google in 2003.

If you are running a company or business, one of the main reasons a blog is important to have is that it will increase traffic to your website, especially when one is posted that has relevance to a latest discovery in the media.

When blogs are published, it is important to know that these are searchable for quite some time in search engines like Google, opposed to Facebook or Twitter entries, which aren’t picked up as regularly as blogs in Google. In saying this, it is important to keep your posts search engine optimised, as well as keeping your audience informed.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimisation, often referred to as SEO is the procedure in assuring that website content is published and optimised with relevant words that will be picked up by Google and other search engines. One significant aspect of a blog is ensuring the title is picked up by search engines. Keeping titles short and simple is the way to go, assuring important words are used in the title. For example if you are blogging about search engine optimisation on Google and you have called your blog, “What is Search Engine Marketing on Google?”, try shortening this to “Google Search Engine Marketing”, keeping the most relevant words first, as this will likely get picked up a lot easier through Google.

What else should I make sure my blog contains?

Another important aspect is to ensure that each blog features “Share” options for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and LinkedIn, because if you post something that others are really interested in, you would want to make sure that your blog reaches out to the appropriate market and is shared on social media to attract more attention and clicks to your website. It is also vital to share blog entries on your company Facebook page and Twitter pages to prompt readers to click on your blog and visit your website.

What can I write about?

When it comes to a blog, a lot of writers aren’t sure on what to post about. Within a blog, it is important to solve your readers’ problems and questions, providing solutions. If you are running a business, a good idea would be to go through your website and choose services or products you offer, providing your audience with more information about the product or service you’ve chosen, which will always capture the interest of your audience.

If you have a blog and it hasn’t been updated in quite some time, set aside an hour for either yourself to touch on a subject or a new product you’re offering.