Anita Elder

Freelance Graphic Designer
Seattle, Washington

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Why a blog can be an important tool

Thinking about a blog but don't know what to write about or have the time? Here's an anecdote that might give you a push.

Written Oct 09, 2008, read 1677 times since then.

You've heard over and over again about blogging and it seems everyone is doing it. But is it really a big deal?

For myself, I dragged my feet on starting a blog for a long time. I felt I didn't have much to say that would be of interest to anyone, plus I didn't see how I would have the time. While searching for ways to get my site higher up in the search results, I repeatedly saw references saying that search engines love updated content and blogs are a way to continually update a site. So, I sat down and made a list of things I could blog about that would be relevant to my business.

While I can write the occasional article about my line of work, I didn't see how I could come up with something on a continual basis. I'm sure a lot of other people have this same problem. Then I got the idea of posting my current projects, including the client's name and thumbnails of the design concept. That was the birth of my blog.

In the four months since I started my blog, I've noticed that I was coming up higher in the search results. But was the blog responsible?

You decide...

Last week a client emailed me and asked that I take their name off of my blog. Most clients don't mind a mention since it gives them a bit of free advertising, too. I took the client's name off the blog, but asked them why they wanted it removed, just for reference. The client said that ordinarily they wouldn't mind, but when they would do a search on their business name, my blog post was the number one result generated by the search!

That made me come to the conclusion that my blog is definitely an asset to my business and I find the time to post to it.

If you think a blog is too much work or not necessary, you just might want to rethink that notion. You don't have to write lengthy articles. The important thing is post regularly. Posting consistently doesn't mean that you have to post every day, it simply means that you need to publish content on a regular basis, whatever that may be. Almost every blog that successfully draws traffic is publishing new posts with some consistency.

Here are some things to consider when making the decision to blog:

1.Decide what you want to blog about...make it something about your business that you're passionate about.
Decide to host or not to host. You can blog for free at places like Blogger or Wordpress, but if you want it to have your domain name, consider downloading and installing the free Wordpress software on your hosting server. If you want to go the free blogging service route, check out the free blogging services. If you want to host your blog, read on...
Find a domain name if you don't already have one.
Sign up for web hosting. I prefer GoDaddy.com since I know I won't have any trouble installing the Wordpress software. I also recommend getting the Wordpress for Dummies book to help you install the software and how to manage it.
If you want your blog to match your website and/or you don't want to use a template, consider hiring a graphic designer to help customize your blog's design.

Learn more about the author, Anita Elder.

Posted by Chris Cliff, Lynnwood, Washington | Oct 12, 2008

Blogging is definitely a bigger part of the Internet these days. Just talking about business in general will even go a long way towards getting traffic. What never ceases to amaze me is some of the search terms that people find my pages with.
Posted by Anita Elder, Seattle, Washington | Oct 12, 2008

I hear you about the search terms. But then, you know the jargon for your business. That's why I also ask clients to ask people outside their business for help in coming up with search keywords.

I'm considering offering the client mentioned in my article help with their SEO since apparently their current method isn't working for them.
Posted by Gil Pauley, Bellevue, Washington | Feb 24, 2009

Anita,

I enjoyed your article on blogs. We have been doing a blog for about two years, but being consistant with posts is not always easy. We try to have something of substance when we post. Often a photograph is posted with the blog article. However, because of HIPPA regulations in the healthcare area, we MUST have patient approval to post a photo or a name. Even when we show a photo, we generally don't list the person's name. This is a round-about way of asking why you don't just get a written release from your clients? This would be easy to do at the time you are working with them and prevent any potential future problems for you. Just tell them how you intend to use their name and most people will be flattered that you want to mention them.
Posted by Prafulla Pande, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan | Mar 09, 2009

I have never done any serious blogging although I have written a few posts sporadically. This article together with the comments will help me get more serious about it. Thanks.
Posted by Rodrigo Muller, Charlotte, North Carolina | Aug 25, 2009

I see that you mentioned on number 5 to hire a graphic designer to help you with your blog. Be careful with that, I would highly recommend hiring a Web designer not a graphic designer. There is a big difference between a classically trained print graphic designer and a web designer. A web designer will understand how your blog works and therefore it will know how to design for it, knowing the limitations and parameters.
Posted by Gil Pauley, Bellevue, Washington | Aug 25, 2009

Anita,

I wanted to add one comment regarding blogging. One way to rise to the top of the search engines is to have good backlinks associated with your blog (or website). I think a large number of backlinks also helps. In my first blog, I attached it as a subdomain to my domain name as follows:

http://www.brooksidedental.com/blog/

This really helped my main site as I added content to the blog. However, I found that many directories would not list this separately or in addition to my main website domain name because they considered it a "deep link" for which they had a charge or fee.

Then I decided to start a second blog using the main key words that I wanted to be found by, "Bellevue Dentist". Hence was born the blog:

http://bellevuedentist-cosmetic.blogspot.com/

I found this much easier to list in various Directories. By linking these blog articles to my main website should continue to help my main website.

Gil Pauley www.brooksidedental.com