4 Essential Tips for Writing a Great Blog

Out of the many free tools we offer for your MerchantCircle listing, one of the most important is the blog feature. If you don't already know, a blog is essentially a web log, or public journal, that can be found and read over the internet. While writing this blog and a personal one over the last two years, I've found out a lot about what works and what doesn't. Here are four essential and important tips on having a successful blog that will bring you new customers.

1. Write Often - It's important to write and post as often as you can, which search engines love. Many people make the mistake of writing one or two blog posts, lose interest, and never write another. Put it this way: the more you write, the more material you have floating around the web, thus more chances that someone will find that material and click through to your MerchantCircle listing.

2. Write Early - Be ahead of the curve. If you can think of a topic, or are the first person to write about a subject before everyone else starts writing about it, then your blog post will come up at or near the top of search engine results. This traffic will bring your blog and listing more credibility with the search engines and more visitors.

3. Write Pertinent Titles - It's not always the best to write a witty, intriguing title. Go with a title that spells out exactly what you're writing about. Think about what a customer might enter into a search engine box, and write a post with a title of those exact words. Make it easy for customers to find you. While a spelled out title may seem bland, that doesn't mean your writing has to be. Once the customer finds your blog post, you still have to make sure they stay there by having an informative, interesting, or humorous blog.

4. Write to Link - While writing your posts, make sure you link relevant articles. This essentially means that someone reading your blog post can click on certain words that you've left a link for and it will take you to a new article or blog posts that's relevant to what you're writing about. For instance, if you click on the word link in the first sentence, it will take you to a Wikipedia page that explains what a link is. Also, comment on other people's blogs, if it's relevant, and leave a link to the relevant blog post you wrote. This can bring you added traffic and loyal readers.

By following these four rules, you can drive traffic to your site quickly and effectively. Getting the same people to visit your blog regularly can be hard, but if the stated goal is attracting NEW customers, then you're only as good as your next, well-titled blog post.

Happy Blogging,
Kevin
Community Relations