Virtua Software Blog

Blogs are a great way to edit and maintain your own website quickly, easily, and (most importantly of all), cheaply. On top of this, blogs can help you appear higher up in Search Engine rankings, improve relationships with your customers and generally increase the return on your web site investment. Convinced yet? You will be…

How to Save Money and Increase Sales With a Blog

“But, what is a Blog?” I hear you ask. Well, for starters, this site is powered by blog software. A Blog (short for web log) is a sort of online diary where you can add new posts (entries) whenever you want. Posts are listed in chronological order, with the most recent post displaying first. Blogs let you update the content on your website quickly and easily and people can subscribe to blogs using any one of a number of RSS Readers. Personally, I use a free, web-based service called Bloglines but there are many others that are just as good. They can be used in a way similar to email newsletters, except blogs have a couple of advantages - namely, the fact that people dont have to give you their email address in order to subscribe so they dont need to worry about Email Spam.

If you havent got a blog on your business website, then I highly recommend that you get one. Here are 5 reasons why:

1. Better Rankings on Search Engines

Search Engines love sites that are constantly changing and being updated. Fresh content is seen as being of high value and your site is likely to rank more highly in the Search Engine Results if you update it regularly. If you haven’t updated your homepage any time recently, you may find your site slipping down the pecking order in the Search Engine results.
Google also loves it when you have other websites linking to your site. Search Engines view links to your site from other sites as a vote for you which makes Search Engines favour your site. The logic being that if other people think your content is good enough to link to, then your site must be good. Write lots of useful articles, tips, tricks etc and people will start linking to your site.

Of course, this doent happen over night, but you will be amazed at the huge positive impact a blog can have on your business if you are prepared to devote a little time to it daily or weekly. More on getting people to link to your site in a future article.

2. They Make Your Business Appear More Credible

By posting useful information (not too much, of course!) on your blog for free, you can demonstrate your expertise and people will see that you know what you are doing. Remember, most people who visit your site won’t know you and they are often very wary of flashy adverts and slogans etc. If they can see that you are a credible expert, and that they can trust you to do a decent job, then they may feel like there is less risk in buying from you.

3. Blogs Help Develop Relationships

A Blog can help you develop a relationship between you and your customers by keeping them informed about what you are doing.
If existing and potential customers regularly read your blog, they will start to feel like they know you and things will seem that little bit more personal. This is important on the web because it can be a very impersonal place to do business. Doing business online with faceless companies may be intimidating and might seem risky. If you can remove this barrier by letting people get to know you, they may feel more comfortable in parting with their money in exchange for whatever it is you are selling.

4. Its So Cheap and Easy

Blogs make a simple, quick and easy option for small business owners that need a web presence but cant afford to pay a web designer to maintain a site for them. You can simply update the content of your site as often as you like for no extra cost.
Blogs are so simple to use and update that pretty much anyone can do it. If you can send an email or fill in a form on a web site, then you can update a blog.

There are many Blog software solutions around these days. some of the better ones are:

• WordPress (which powers this website)
• Blogger
• Movable Type
• Expression Engine

Of course, if you dont have the time or inclination to set up a blog yourself, contact us and we’d be happy to help.

5. They are easy for people to subscribe to

Wouldn’t it be great if people could be instantly alerted each time you add a new article to your blog?! Well, wouldnt you know - Most Blog Software comes complete with a way of allowing users to subscribe (for free). Once people have subscribed by clicking on any of the various subscription buttons or links, your blog software will automatically send them a link to your latest post or article. You can subscribe to any website (including this one) that has any of the following icons:

There are other icons that can also let you subscribe to content but these are the most common. You’ve probably seen them cropping up on various websites over the past couple of years and wondered what they were for. Well, now you know!

Are Blogs Relevant to Any Business?

The short answer is “Yes, of course”.

You may be sat there thinking “Well, that’s all very nice but I still cant see how its relevant for my business - we’re just a small, local firm of [lawyers/carpenters/whatever]”.

As web experts, we use this blog to help keep our customers up to speed on all of the latest issues in web technology (and business in general) and how it may affect things in the future. A Case Lawyer might want to let people know of any new precendences that may have been set. A Double-Glazing Carpenter may want to point out that a new type of adhesive has come on to the market which helps to make his products stronger and even more reliable. A car mechanic might like to offer tips on how to prepare your car for the change of seasons. Whether your industry is particularly fast moving or not, you can always let your customers know of any changes that might affect them.

Any business can use a Blog to promote its services to potential and existing customers. Keep people informed, let them know that you know how to help them solve their problem, and that they can trust you to do a great job. Keep yourself fresh in their minds by frequently publishing new, useful information that can genuinely help them. Appear higher up on search engine because an everchanging site with lots of fresh content will be seen as more trustworthy by Google and other search engines. So, what are you waiting for…?

Useful Links

• What is an RSS Reader?
• Bloglines RSS Reader
  
• What is Email Spam?
• Help on choosing the right Blogging software for you
• Wordpress
• Blogger
• Movable Type
• Expression Engine

Until next time, thanks for reading!
Terry