Local Search Tactic #5 – Blogs

I know what you are thinking, I’m an accountant, not a writer, or I’m a roofer, not an author. But, your future customers are online seeking information and you must be able to deliver it.  In the Information Age, writing on a blog can be the most effective way to market your business.

Blogs are considered to be more trustworthy than static web pages.  They allow your business to provide useful information and news, become an authority in your field, express personality, build communities and keep your website ranking high on search engines.

Blogs are naturally search engine friendly because they are constantly updated with new content.  They also allow you to incorporate lots of your keywords in the titles, posts, categories and tags.  Readers can participate with comments and build a community around your business through email and RSS subscriptions.

Having a blog does not have to seem like an impossible task.  It is actually free and easy to set up and update.

Wordpress and Blogger are the most popular.  You can go to these sites and create an account, pick out a template and you are ready to go.  The hosting is free on these sites but you can buy the domain name at a place like www.GoDaddy.com so you do not have wordpress or blogspot in your url.

Your content can come from helpful tips you have learned from your experience.  Observations and opinions on the state of your current industry,  Links to local news stories, company news, promotions, tips, etc.

Most businesses offer services that people could do themselves, if they have the resources and wanted to invest the time required to learn how to do it.  Usually hiring a professional will save time and money.  For my wife’s property management company, the strategy I employ is to give away the information for free, and then when they choose to hire a professional, they call us. Example- a new real estate investor read our blog and learned how to buy investment property and manage it.  He would comment on the blog and email me questions.  He was enjoying managing his property until his job transferred him out of state and he could no longer effectively manage it.  Who do you think he called to manage his property?

One tactic is to have your domain as your business name, but then set up the blogs with keyword phrases and links pointing to your main site.This works well for building relevant links to your main site and long term branding.

Don’t think taking on multiple blogs will take up all of your time.  You can use Windows Live Writer to post to all of your blogs from one spot.  Just make sure you change each article so that none of them have duplicate content ( a negative in search engine rankings).  Include links to your main site in the content of your posts with strong anchor text.

Blogs are a great way to connect with your clients, become an expert in your field and a resource for information.  Blogs are also a great way to network with other bloggers in your industry in order to generate referrals and traffic to your site.

Subscribe by email or RSS Feed to get more small business marketing techniques.

Photo by blogefl

Related posts:

1. Local Search Tactic #7- Neighborhood Blogger I once read an e-book from an internet marketing...
2. Local Search Tactic #4 – Directory There are MANY different directories on the internet and...
3. Local Search Tactic #1 – Google Maps This post definitely had to be the first tactic...
4. Local Search Tactic #2 – The Zip Cloud Whenever I am searching for something local, I will...
5. Local Search Tactic # 3 – Steal Traffic Yes, this is one of the more cutthroat tactics,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.