The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article: October 2005, Volume 4, Issue 10
To Blog or Not to Blog: Factors to Consider
by Tom Candee, Marketing Strategist, iProspect
Although a corporate-sponsored blog might make immediate sense for some, the majority of search engine marketers should take the time to consider the pros and cons of blogging before starting one.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Blogs are on a roll, doubling in number every 5.5 months, according to Technorati.com in August 2005. They have struck a chord with readers, who have quickly become disciples of the blogosphere — steering friends, family, and associates to blog sites in vast numbers. And according to an August, 2005 report from comScore Networks, the people who read blogs are 30 percent more likely to buy products or services online than the rest of the Internet population.
That last statistic makes corporate-sponsored blogs particularly intriguing to online marketers. On top of their viral growth and attractive demographics, the text and link-rich nature of blogs predispose them to strong organic search engine performance.
Clearly, marketers — especially search engine marketers — should be thinking about creating separate corporate-sponsored blog websites and formulating a corporate strategy around them. So what should you do?
Blogging Blueprint
Blogs that consistently publish fresh, quality content can attain powerful levels of Internet credibility, which plays a major role in search engine performance. The higher the blog website’s credibility value, the more exposed it will be to search engine visitors.
Your challenge is to create and sustain a blog that presents a unique value proposition (UVP) to visitors. Presenting a UVP will attract readers, motivate them to come back, and encourage them to link to your blog. More links will lead to a higher Internet credibility value.
As the credibility of your blog website grows, so does the credibility of the sites to which it links. And it is only natural for your blog to link frequently to — and to a variety of pages on — your corporate website.
This is the point where the blog site can help to improve your main website’s search engine visibility and performance. Let’s review step by step:
Create UVP on corporate-sponsored blog
Sustain UVP on blog with fresh, regular content
Promote blog — increase links to blog
Link from blog to main corporate website
Watch search engine performance of corporate site improve
Planning Is Key
The entire scenario is worthless without the UVP. If your company struggles to create and sustain a blog that has a UVP, you should not launch a corporate blog site. The cost in time and energy put into the blog will exceed the benefits to search engine visibility and traffic. Without a unique voice, you will not survive and prosper in the ever-changing blogosphere.
Before you jump right in, sit down with your staff and colleagues and determine your future blog’s UVP. Be sensitive to the fact that a blog will require a dedicated person or team committed to regular and frequent content creation and promotion of the blog.
With the right forethought and planning, a corporate blog can be a highly effective search engine marketing tool.
