If you want to generate more online search traffic for your business, surveys are increasingly showing the number one tactic you need to focus more on: blogging.
“It’s not necessarily the most popular tactic among small businesses,” writes Forbes columnist Brian Sutter, in referencing the WASP Barcode 2017 “
State of Small Business Report.”
Indeed, according to the 2017 Small Business Survey, the most effective means to garner more search traffic are:
- 56% website
- 50% email
- 48% social media
- 48% word of mouth/referrals
- 37% printed promotional materials
- 34% internet advertising
- 33% direct mail
Blogging is near the bottom of the listed activities small businesses say they do, at 18 percent, down from 22 percent in 2016.
Research from Hubspot shows a correlation between the more blog posts a company does and the higher number of traffic companies then get to their site. For example, writing between zero to four blog posts per month doesn’t really get companies a significant increase in traffic. Instead, companies need to publish five to 10 blog posts per month, or 11 to 15 to really see a big jump to their traffic. Yet, about 54 percent of businesses say they publish once a week, or less, on their blog, according to the
2016 Orbit Media blogging study.
You may not have the time to blog much more, however. If that's the case, Sutter offers up some tips. For example, republish and refresh older posts. Give an older blog post an update and expand on it where possible, then republish it to try to gather new traffic.
Also, “convert every post you publish into at least one other format,” Sutter suggests. “A series of related posts can become an ebook or a Kindle book. A few posts can be made into short videos. Make others into simple infographics, checklists, SlideShares, quizzes, or assessments.”
While blogging can help you see more results to your search traffic, Sutter stresses that limiting yourself to one traffic-building tactic is rarely a good idea. Beyond just blogging, he says you still need to apply page search engine optimization, take part in careful link building, and ensure your site is mobile-friendly and fast too.
“Write a few guest posts on high-profile blogs,” Sutter writes “Optimize your pages intelligently, and have a social media presence. Put a serious and sustained effort into building your traffic.”
Source: “The Secret to Getting More Search Traffic for Your Business,” Forbes.com (June 2, 2017)
