Website blogs, are they useful ?

[Zono]

just about to launch a website and have been stuck on whether I should add a blog or not? Does anyone actually read blogs on any sites or is it just for SEO purposes to bring in traffic?

Also what content and source do you suggest for website blogs? I personally don't have the time nor the skills to write a blog and do not want to spend a lot of money on hiring some blogger who will probably give me a recycled blog they have used somewhere before!

 

[webhostuk]

A blog is a good option if you put the right content related to your website if its correctly optimized can benefit your website traffic. Personally would suggest going for it with some good research if you really want the site to gain good presence as a blog can add to new content to your website which in turn will ask google bot to revisit your website in simple term. But all this will require your time to do it if you don't wish to spend money.

 

[fisicx]

A lot depends on what you are selling.

If you are selling plants the a blog about what you should be planting right now can be useful. Except of course there are already thousands of gardening blogs.

If you are selling galoshes then I’m not sure you will have enough content for a blog.

If you sell sausages then a weekly recipe could be good source of traffic.

You can pay someone but the ROI probably isn’t going to be good if all you get are generic articles.

 

[Ian Sutherland]

Blogs or news articles have been real winners for our site. We started off making the usual mistakes of writing "adverts" in the form of a blog but soon realised that writing useful, interesting articles relating to our industry or service had the double effect of a) bringing people to our site to read the blog, and b) raising our ranking position. Don't assume that people will jump in and buy your product on the back of a blog (although a call to action doesn't hurt); but consider it a way of raising your profile and rankings so that other people in the future will buy your product.

It is important, as the other responder mentioned, that it is optimised properly. We have used a skilled SEO consultant to help us with that, and I'm not ashamed to put a --> link to her site.

An example was a post that helped people solve a particular problem with some well known accounting software. This has brought us many customers. I try and post at least one article in the "news" section a month, but several other articles in an "information" section of the site. By keeping things new and relevant and updates it has definitely improved our search engine rankings

 

[Russ Michaels]

I personally don't have the time nor the skills to write a blog and do not want to spend a lot of money on hiring some blogger who will probably give me a recycled blog they have used somewhere before!

I think that statement has probably answered your question for you. A blog with nothing on it is pointless. You would have to be prepared to spend time posting interesting content to your blog.
If your existing/previous customers have cause to come back to your site to read blog posts, then you are increasing your chances of them making another purchase.
If your articles/posts are useful enough to show on google, then they will bring in potential new customers.
Although reposting content from elsewhere is still useful, if people are reading it on your blog and not from the original source.

 

[Scalingspace]

i think blog is really important, especially if you are going to build your brand. It will not bring you quick sales and you also will have to invest a lot of time in building your blog, but in the right way it can be game changer for you. something that completely separate you from your competitors. but again, you can spend months or years to build good blog.

 

[Dave_Fletcher]

I have some points that show why website blog are useful:-

1. Increases search engine traffic
2. Humanizes your brand
3. Supports your social media initiatives
4. Builds authority in your industry
5. Helps generate inbound links
6. Helps you rank for long-tail search queries
7. Increases leads
8. Facilitates valuable discussion

 

[Hugh Jampton]

I have a blog that gets so much attention it was one of the best decisions I made.

Constantly gets 40 - 50 hits a day. Makes me happy

 

[The next Steve Jobs]

They might be web bots! ... don't get too excited if they are ,lol

@OP to add value to the internet for everyone I suggest that you do invest time in creating unique, original useful content and thus avoid becoming yet another CHURNALIST


Be part of the global solution rather than the spam problem

 

[Hugh Jampton]

No they're not bots - I can tell, I have a stat counter device and shows a lot of detail about all hits.

This week that page has 574 views of which 400+ are genuine hits.

To some it's small peanuts, to me, it shows my content works.

Your right in what you said though, unique content is what it's all about.

 

[fisicx]

To some it's small peanuts, to me, it shows my content works.

Indeed, but how does it work? Do those visitors to your site turn into customers?

 

[Hugh Jampton]

It's information I'm blogging not sales, but on the flip side, Yes I do get some work from it.
I am defined by my local area for work: Travelling to customers.
The blog is answered by the U.K. public and the interaction is well worth the 30 mins it took to write.

 

[Hugh Jampton]

I would like to show the link to explain what it is & why it helps me with the interaction I get .

Alas: I'm not quite sure of the rights to links, when not being a full member and the acceptance of such things on here.