Business & Tech

Four Reasons Your Business Should Blog on Patch

Run a local business? Wondering how to make a greater online presence for your company? Here are four reasons starting a blog on Patch can help.

Written by Julie Weisberg and Wendy Vincent

Small business has been a focus at Patch since we first started.

We aim to support small businesses in our communities and to help them use Patch as a way to tell the stories of small businesses across our country.

You may have a business website, maybe even a Facebook page, too. Perhaps you even have a Twitter account. But, are you still wondering how to get your local business noticed in the vastness of cyberspace?

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Here are four reasons how creating your own business blog space on Windham Patch can help you stand out from the crowd of local competitors (Chambers of Commerce and professional business development associations are encouraged to blog, too!):

1. Search Engine Optimization: Known as SEO, this is the practice of ensuring that your website shows up at the top of search engines searches like Google or Yahoo. Ever wonder why your competitor's business shows up higher in the list when you do an online search for your company's products or services? That's because they have better SEO than you do.

Don't have SEO envy! Instead, help improve your SEO by starting a blog! With an additional online presence through a blog that gets updated regularly and links back to your website, it signals search engines and the complicated algorithm gods that figure this thing out that your page is not static, thus improving your SEO.

2. Builds Authority: An informative blog helps set you up as THE authority in your industry. For example, a bridal shop might set up a blog that details news and information about the bridal industry. Topics might include current trends, the best bridesmaid colors for fall weddings, favor ideas, the best dresses for a beach wedding, tips on including the groom in the planning process, etc.

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Readers will start to look to you for advice, making your business more reputable and respected in your industry. If you end each blog with your name, your business name and a link back to your website, it will direct readers interested in your business services directly back to you! Not to mention, increase your SEO presence! Check out what a blogger and attorney on a Patch sister site has to say about the importance of blogging — plus five of her best practices (they’re simple and smart!).

3. Connect the Dots: Content from your blog can be recycled on your website and vice versa. Not to mention, points in your blog make for good content for your social media posts like Facebook and Twitter. Social sharing is a great marketing tool to drive business directly to you! Having a blog gives you something to "share."

4. It's FREE: With the expensive costs of advertising, many small businesses look for other ways to help get the word out about their business goods and services. Blogging offers businesses a free way to get themselves out there! What you do is great, why not promote yourself and your knowledge about your industry?

Interesting fact you might or might not know: Businesses that blog get 55 percent more visitors to their websites than businesses that don't. That’s huge. So what are you waiting for? Ready to get started? Great!

Creating your own business blog space is easy peasy. Just click through here and get started reaching out to new potential customers and clients today!

Do you have questions? Just e-mail Community Editor Robert Cook at robert.cook@patch.com for answers.





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