Does business blogging make a difference? Does it matter that your firm doesn’t have a website that includes your own self-hosted blog? Yes, it does matter. And here’s why.
Google has now launched the Knowledge Graph. According to them,
The Knowledge Graph enables you to search for things, people or places that Google knows about—landmarks, celebrities, cities, sports teams, buildings, geographical features, movies, celestial objects, works of art and more—and instantly get information that’s relevant to your query. This is a critical first step towards building the next generation of search, which taps into the collective intelligence of the web and understands the world a bit more like people do.
Did you read that—“which taps into the collective intelligence of the web and understands the world a bit more like people do.”? Once again Google is telling us that it matters that we’re connected to, participating in and contributing to building the knowledge-base on the web.
Business blogging answers questions
If your business is not (through your blog) consistently sharing content oriented to solving problems for your customers and answering their questions, you aren’t becoming part of the interconnected web.
A website is not a brochure, which when once printed remains static. A website must be a growing, living entity. You must use your business blogging to keep your customers updated on issues and solutions to make their lives better. And this is not just my opinion, it’s Google’s.
With the Knowledge Graph, Google is linking facts across the web to give you, the user, a much more responsive search. In fact, Google’s work is now linking facts in order to answer the most asked questions that follow the initial question.
Business blogging for customers
As a small business owner, this means you not only need to be present answering questions on your blog, but you must be present and commenting regularly on others’ blogs, on professional topics. It means you must create content in many different channels across the web. Channels include YouTube, Facebook, and Flicker. Of course there are hundreds, if not thousands of channels.
Does your firm interact with a very technologically oriented audience? If so, don’t overlook forums, those great-grandchildren of the web where intense debate often takes place. Then there are professional topic groups on LinkedIn as well as those on associations’ websites.
Don’t let this intimidate you. Choose one channel, your blog, and begin to curate or create content that speaks to your customers questions and needs.
Need help with a business blogging calendar or schedule? Contact us. We’re here for you.
