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Traffic Tuesdays


Published by: Judy Cobb 04-30-2013  |  POSTED IN: Traffic Tuesdays

Words Blog 21: Your Blog - Relevant and Timely Topics

 
A blog on your website can build your website's credibility and your business's relationships with visitors to your website. A carefully written blog can also improve your website's search engine optimization (SEO) by incorporating keywords currently being used in online searches and by creating opportunities for backlinks with other websites.
 
One strategy that can build blog followers is writing about relevant and timely issues. Writing about frequently asked questions in your business or industry is one important source of topics that will draw readers to your blog.
 
You and your staff have a good idea what these topics are. However, if your business involves retail products, you can check consumer websites or the Consumer Reports site to find out what issues people are discussing or questions people are asking.
 
Including news about your community or discussions of topics that currently affect your community can build your visibility in a specific geographic area or with people in a demographic category targeted by your business. If you specialize in financial services to people in a specific geographic area and at a certain income level, including information about nearby services or events of interest to those consumers can allow you to reach potential customers that have not responded to other marketing strategies.
 
It's always a good idea to think about current issues and trends in your community or in the world when you select topics for a blog. When there is new research or data that affects your business or industry, your blog might discuss how that information affects the quality or cost of the product or the effect that research has on your local community.
 
This source of blog topics is particularly useful in businesses that that are subject to frequent changes in the law or that are heavily regulated or monitored by government agencies. Accounting firms, for example, can create useful blogs that produce a lot of "hits" on a website by writing about current changes in tax practices and the impact of those changes on individuals or small businesses.
 
Timing is relevant in topic selection as well. These tax-related topics would be of most interest in February and March, when people are preparing income tax returns.
 
Tying your blog to a current news story or heavily searched topic can also draw readers. We are in the middle of the NBA Playoffs right now, so having a blog post or two about basketball or the Playoffs or writing about a local tie-in with the playoffs could increase the visits to your blog.
 
This strategy won't always produce new blogs, but it is worth checking current search trends to see if there's a subject you can latch onto when you are writing a blog. Google Trends is one source you can quickly check to find a list of the most frequently searched topics for the previous day. Google trends not only lists the searches and the major links for that topic, but it also indicates the total number of searches rounded to hundred thousands.
 
Tim Tebow was the most frequently searched topic Monday, followed by the sale of a sex tape by Teenage Mom star Farrah Abraham. Those are probably not topics most business bloggers can get their teeth into. However, last Friday's trends included searches about hacking into PNC Bank and Living Social. If your business has issues or provides services related to cyber security, building a blog around those events could well attract visitors to your blog.
 
Yahoo is another place to check for current search trends. The upper right area of the Yahoo home page has a list of their 10 most frequently searched topics at the moment. The trends identified by Google and by Yahoo tend to be different, so it is worth checking both.
 
Building an effective blog that improves your website's visibility and success is an ongoing process. Visitors on the Internet are fickle and move on to other sites when they do not find what they are looking for.
 
That is both good news and bad news for a blogger. The good news is that good blogs can rather quickly build traffic to your website. The bad news is that blogs that become redundant or stale can lose traffic almost as quickly. A good blog is worth the effort not only because it can be a powerful marketing tool on your website but also because--if done well--it can be an engaging and challenging project in its own right.
 
 
As always, you can help us assure that every blog post in this series provides you with tangible suggestions and ideas for building or improving your website. Please share your ideas, comments, questions and suggestions with us. Feel free to leave comments below or email Judy at [email protected].
 
Judy Cobb is an independent writer and business writing coach whose clients have included Parsons Engineering, Mattel Toys, The Los Angeles Times and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has specialized in developing training materials for instructor-led courses as well as interactive online courses and websites. She holds advanced degrees from Columbia University and Stanford as well as an MBA from UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management.
Thanks for reading. Jason.
P.S. Don't forget to subscribe below to this blog.
 
About Jason Ciment
Formerly an attorney and CPA, Jason has been working online since 1997. His columns on affiliate marketing can still be found on www.Clickz.com and his book on search engine optimization can be found at www.seotimetable.com.

This blog is published 4x per week and covers website design and SEO tips as well as a wide range of tips and advice for working and living online more efficiently and enjoyably.
 

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