The invisible benefits of blogging

The benefits of blogging have been well documented online over the last six years – companies such as General Motors blazed a trail back in 2002, highlighting a level of transparency, openness and willingness to engage with customers over the Internet previously unseen by corporate marketers. They started where numerous others have since followed. And here we are, more than a decade later, with social media engagement and blogging outreach coming into their own as powerful ways to find, connect with, and create profitable relationships with, new customers. But there are invisible benefits of blogging which deserve more attention. I’m talking about the power of words. The power of words to work for you online. Months after you’ve placed them. The inherent benefits of placing content, key terms and searchable industry phrases into your blog content to be found on Google and other search engines has always been a major reason to blog. Being found before your direct competitors online is one of the strongest reasons possible to devote time, attention and energy into blogging outreach as a crucial part of your social media marketing in 2012. Why, you ask? Prove it, some will say. Example: type ‘proven social media consultant‘ into Google. Now. What you’ll see (after the paid-for adverts at the top of the page, which none of us pay any attention to) is a blog post I wrote back in May 2011. It’s containing the relevant keywords under the search term, and it’s still at the top of Google, months after being posted. So, if you’re going to blog, think of the long-term benefits, and invest some thought into what, where, and when you’re blogging. It will return dividends to you tenfold over time, and can help to bring business to your door. Repeatedly. My ideal, SEO-friendly, Google Juice-enhanced blog will contain, typically, the following elements: * Focus keyword or phrase For this blog post, it’s ‘benefits of blogging‘ as you’ll see from the blog post title, and again in the first sentence. It’s also repeated at least once within the blog content, to further highlight and reinforce ownership of the key phrase for Google Juice. * Ruthless clarity For this blog post, I’m making one point, and making it clearly. A good blog post has clarity, and holds focus on that point. The audience can engage, identify, and take something useful away with them. Quickly and easily. This is at the heart of blogging. * Blog length Typically, Google likes to index blogs between 300 and 600 words. The length of this blog post is 590 words. And, let’s be honest, if a blog post is longer than 600 words, why not have an ‘Articles’ section to keep it all together? Mine’s called ‘Free Stuff‘. * Linked to the max Cross-linking and out-linking of blog posts is essential in the effort to attract external traffic to you, and develop a network of relationships online. Most of my blog posts, typically, cross-link around six times, and out-link up to three times. As you see here. * Categorise it  Think of your audience when blogging, and ensure you have blog categories, so they can find, browse, and benefit from their experience of your blog. This blog has clear, easy-to-browse categories. This is categorised under ‘blogging’ for obvious reasons. * Give a little Good blogs share, and share openly. My favourite bloggers give knowledge, expertise, and skills freely – to a point. Let your audience see the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of what you do, and where you do it well. Gaining trust online takes time, time, and more time.