Should You Have a Blog on Your Website?
Whether you call it a blog, news, tips & advice, or like us, “The Classroom,” choosing whether to have an articles-based section on your website is an important decision.
It’s a conversation we recently had with a client. We’re building two new websites for them and they wanted our advice on whether each site should have a blog. It’s not a simple answer, and I’ve written below about the thought process we explored with the client:
Benefits of a blog…
It can demonstrate expertise.
A well-written and informative blog section of your website demonstrates expertise in a given topic or category. It’s also a way to share that expertise and gain good will from your reader. In part, that’s what we try to do here with “The Classroom.”
Be aware that poorly written or misinformed blog content can have the opposite effect of demonstrating expertise.
It’s a marketing tool that generates content.
When I was Director of Communications & Marketing at Christ School, we used our “News” section to share “wins” from current students and alumni. Our writer focused on good news from the school community and often wrote 3-4 articles per week. We used those articles on the website, in social media posts, email newsletters, for personal outreach, and more. Over time, our constituents knew to watch for those news articles. The articles equipped our constituents with information and in turn they became an extension of our marketing department. They spread the word to places we couldn’t reach.
If we saw an article “take off” then we knew it was likely worth supporting that idea with video or other assets.
Is a blog good for search engine optimization (SEO)?
More high-quality content on your website is certainly good for SEO. Search engines view websites with lots of high-quality content as being more authoritative than other websites in the same category without that content. Further, having more content in search engines provides more pathways for people to find your website.
All of that being said, not all categories of business or schools lend themselves well to ongoing article-type content. If the fit isn’t right, don’t force it.
Things to Consider
How do you come up with content ideas?
Creating compelling content is key, and to find those compelling topics, go right to the source – your customer. Check with your receptionist, admission officers, advancement team, and others. What questions do they receive from your constituents? What topics do they get asked about and what concerns do they hear? To start out, you can run surveys amongst your constituents to get their direct feedback.
On a data-driven front, you can use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Google Search Console, and Google Analytics to determine content ideas and to gauge what’s working best on your site.
Consistency is Key - The Real Answer to the Question
Do you have the resources, topic ideas, and commitment to create multiple years worth of content? If you can answer yes, then you likely should create a blog section of your website.
Complete this exercise: Choose a posting frequency. For this example, let’s choose monthly posts. Can you create a list of 24 article ideas? That’s two years of content. If you can’t, it’s a big red flag. If you can create that list, do you have the time or staffing resources to write a monthly article? If not, it’s another big red flag. This exercise can help you decide on posting frequency (do the exercise again for weekly posts - 104 post ideas) and whether you should have a blog at all.
A dead or dormant blog section on your website screams the wrong message to your site visitor. Worst case, they’ll think you are out of business. More likely, they’ll wonder about your commitment and follow through. Either way, little good comes from a dead or dormant blog.
A blog section is never a requirement on your website and it isn’t strictly necessary for success. Weigh the benefits against your available resources and determine whether it’s the right choice for you. The same idea applies to your social media accounts, but that’s a different topic for a different day!
