So, you ask “where did the word BLOG come from”? Well, the commonly accepted origin is the shortened version of “Web Log” –> “weB LOG”. BLOGs were conceived as places where people could tell the world their story; an online journal or diary of sorts.
I like to think of BLOGs in a different way:
B – Better
L – Listings
O – on
G – Google
In the Search Marketing world “Content is King”. Search engines regularly scour websites to gather information. If yours is growing and changing, Search Engines will favor you because you are providing relevant information on a regular basis. When it comes to improving the visibility of your website, one of the top things you can do is to add valuable content on a regular basis.
Can you achieve the same result by adding pages to your regular website? Certainly. But many website owners outsource their websites because they don’t want to have to deal with the technical side. It can get quite discouraging.
BLOGs make the task of adding content to your website much easier. Just click “Add Post” and start typing. No messy HTML, no high-cost Web Editor required. And when you have a BLOG, you can allow readers to leave comments, making the experience more interactive, thus encouraging you to write more. It’s a win-win.
If you have trouble thinking of a BLOG as a ranking tool, think of the other uses. You can post company news, what’s new, answers to frequently asked questions, get feedback from your viewers and more. The bigger your imagination, the more the possibilities.
If you decide to BLOG, you should do it right:
Lastly, if you BLOG about information that is useful to your viewers, you are doing them a service. You just happen to be improving the search visibility of your site at the same time.