Content makes the internet go \u2019round, right? At this point, we\u2019ve all heard that we have to produce content to get search engines (and ultimately visitors) to our websites. Because of this, I am asked regularly \u201cHow often should I blog?\u201d and to this, my answer is the same each time: \u201cAs often as you can produce something useful\u201d. That answer is usually followed by some in-depth discussion about our client\u2019s prospects and goals in relation to their content strategy. However, there are some general rules which apply when we\u2019re talking about business blogging.<\/p>\n
The most important of which is:<\/p>\n
If you can\u2019t add value, add nothing at all.<\/strong><\/p>\n That might sound a bit outlandish in today\u2019s \u201cContent is King\u201d climate, but I would argue that\u00a0quality<\/strong>\u00a0content is the only true path to organic search success. Times have changed since that phrase was coined and search engines have become far more sophisticated. Search engines can very easily tell how real people react when they land on your website. They can tell how many times your content is shared with others, how long a person spent viewing your pages and how many pages they looked at, in addition to a wealth of additional information that helps them understand whether or not your articles are useful to a visitor.<\/p>\n We certainly don\u2019t advocate leaving your blog to sit stagnant, but if you\u2019re feeling pressured to write something and keep coming up with articles that you couldn\u2019t pay someone to read \u2013 you aren\u2019t doing yourself any favors. It\u2019s honestly better not to write anything than to produce content that doesn\u2019t provide value to a visitor. Why? Because as search engines realize that your content isn\u2019t useful it will be buried in search results and no one will see it anyhow.<\/p>\n On the flip side, you need not produce award-winning content each time you blog either. Just ask yourself some simple questions before you begin to write:<\/p>\n Will this article fully answer a question my visitor has?<\/strong>\u00a0Great articles leave visitors feeling good about the fact that you have answered a question completely and they need not head back to the search engine to try and find the answer. This also adds bonus points to your credibility score if you are selling a product or service related to the question you\u2019ve answered.<\/p>\n Will this article contain details or ideas my visitor can\u2019t find elsewhere online?<\/strong> Your business has a unique set of principles, ideas, and methods that should come across in your blog. It\u2019s important to set your voice apart from the rest, no matter how much competition is out there. Avoid duplicating ideas that are already easily found. Sometimes it\u2019s helpful to do a search on the topic you are planning to write about, take a few minutes to look through the first few search results to see how the topic is already being covered, and write with that in mind.<\/p>\n If this isn\u2019t an original idea, will my article add value to what\u2019s already covered?<\/strong> This point plays into the point above in many ways. The likelihood of your article idea being completely original is extremely remote, however, you can almost always add value to what\u2019s already been written. As you are writing from your business\u2019s perspective you can also add visuals such as video, charts, and other useful examples to illustrate your point. Adding value to a topic already covered online means giving visitors something more or different than the rest. This is especially useful when covering a heavily searched and densely populated topic.<\/p>\n