Although the Cincinnati AMA Digital Summit was held over a week ago, Kristen Hanschu's presentation "Compelling Reasons Businesses Should Blog" is well worth mentioning here.
Hanchu, of Compendium Blogware in Indianapolis, revealed five primary reasons why a business should blog:
- Online Democracy
- Search Engine Optimization
- Higher Prospect Interaction and Conversion
- Email Acquisition
- Employee Retention and Customer Engagement
Online Democracy, says Hanchu, is the human factor with blogging. She says an employee who blogs is five times more credible than a CEO who blogs. The employee is more believable. This point alone is why more firms should have employees contribute to company blogs.
A blog can be an important factor in SEO. However, blog content must be updated and it must be relevant. There is also a linking strategy (Hanchu referred to it as "link juice") in which other blogs will link and write about your blog.
Blog SEO factors can include Titles, Keywords, Recent Content (and more content), Links and Relevance.
A blog can also increase higher prospect interaction and conversion. It needs a "call to action" (an e-mail, a phone call, a offer to sign up for a newsletter).
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