If you’ve found yourself pondering this question, the good news is that the answer is quite clear-cut:  if you want to increase your online visibility and generate more exposure and leads for your business, having a blog is a great way to do it.

Most businesses have a website; however, for a small business this can mean a very simple five page brochure website that rarely changes.  This is fine if you’re directing people to your site, but you’ll find that this website fails to rank well with search engines that prefer to send traffic to pages full of quality unique content. The more pages of text that your website has, the more search results it will start to become relevant for.

What to Write About…

Whether you are a plumber or a florist, you are an expert in what you do, but your website might not reflect your expertise. Imagine if each week your wrote three blog posts covering some of the following topics…

• New products or services
• Client case studies
• Examples of work
• Trade show reports
• Partner website reviews
• Customer testimonials
• Prize contests and giveaways
• Industry trends
• Local commentary “A day in the life of a Vancouver electrician”

You will soon be surprised at how this extra content is linked to from other local web sites and even picked-up as users share what they find with their peers through social media.

How do you Convert Readers into Customers?

With the extra content on your website, you will not only attract fresh customers from search engines but you will also demonstrate your industry knowledge.  This could lead to requests from local media for comments on news stories, business opportunities and most importantly it will give potential customers a greater confidence in your ability –increasing conversion from website visitor to paying customer.

Seeing that your website was recently updated also lets customers know that you are still in business – which is very important when you are being compared to a competitor who only has a five page brochure website.

Don’t Have Time to Blog?

Not everyone has the time to update their website three times per week, but the end result is worth the effort.  If you simply cannot see yourself doing this, why not outsource your blogging to a freelance writer who can produce the content for you..  A good freelance writer can be found for a reasonable price on websites like elance.com , so for a small  investment your website will soon begin growing its traffic and increasing your authority as an expert in your field.

Need Help?

Want to find out more about growing your website traffic  or how to optimize your website for conversion?

Small Business BC will be running an Ask a Web Expert on January 18th and 19th, 2012 with Mark Tempest of Deepnet Media.

Book now for a one-to-one consultation with Mark at our offices in Waterfront Station, Vancouver or via Skype.  Consultations are 45 minutes long, are by appointment only and must be booked in advance.

To find out more about this Ask the Expert or to book an appointment contact Client Services at 604-775-5572 or 1-800-667-2272.