By now, most of the business world has recognized the benefits of having a company blog. Blogs can help bring traffic to your website, promote new ideas and events, and can give your company a human voice that customers can connect with. There is plenty of helpful tips out there, but there are also many misconceptions about blogging. Here are four common myths about blogging, debunked to help guide you on your quest for an effective blog.
Myth #1: If You Blog it, They Will Come
You’ve set up a blog. You’re filling it with valuable, interesting content. You even put a link to your blog on your website. The readers should come rolling in, right? Not likely. You wouldn’t open a brand new retail store on a side street and rely on foot traffic to support your store; you’d advertise and create marketing promotions. Treat your blog the same way, using techniques such as search engine optimization and social media marketing to help readers discover your blog.
Myth #2: SEO is All About Quantity
There’s no denying that blog content written with search engine optimization in mind is an essential key to increasing search engine ranking, targeting the readers you want to reach, and driving valuable and high-quality traffic to your blog. Search Engine Optimization only works, however, if done correctly. Poorly done SEO can be ineffective or even counter-productive. Contrary to the myth that keywords and SEO are all about quantity, you can definitely have too much of a good thing if you make SEO the sole focus of your content. For one thing, it can often create copy that is extremely awkward to read and very obvious to readers. Besides alienating readers, over-optimizing can actually hurt your search engine ranking as Google has begun to penalize content that places link and keyword quantity over quality.
Jam-packing your blog content with as many keywords as you can possibly fit in and placing links in every place imaginable is not the answer. Quality is they key, not quantity. To be effective, Search Engine Optimization needs to fit seamlessly in with high-quality content that provides actual value to your readers.
Myth #3: You Must Blog Every Day
Many bloggers feel pressured to post every single day, without fail. It’s true that a consistent blogging schedule keeps your content fresh, keeping your readers interested and likely raising your value in the eyes of search engines. However, quality is essential; if you can’t create interesting, valuable content on a daily basis, it’s alright to cut yourself a little slack. It’s far better to post great, well-written blogs two or three times per week than to push yourself to the crank out mediocre content every day.
Myth #4: Success is Measured in Comments
Comments are a popular method for bloggers to want to use as a benchmark; they’re straightforward, easily quantified, and obvious proof that people are reading and responding to your blog. However, there are many other ways to judge blog “success”, and a lack of comments doesn’t mean your blog is failing.
For example, take your blog’s traffic – and traffic patterns – into consideration. Are a lot of people visiting and reading your posts? Has the number of visitors been steadily increasing, or holding steady? The blog’s search engine ranking is another factor to take into consideration, too.
Comments are great, and provide a wonderful opportunity for interacting with your readers, but they’re not the end-all and be-all of measuring success in blogging. Photo via Flickr
