What are Blogs?

by Jaimie Abbott

Are Blogs dead?

They certainly are not!

However, I’ll admit it is harder these days to be able to write a blog and then get found on Google instantly from just one blog. So ten years ago, you might have been able to write a blog on a topic like ‘public speaking techniques’ and then simply put those those keywords throughout your blog, and then all of a sudden you appear on top of Google.

It’s not that easy these days, because we are competing with millions and millions of blogs being uploaded online every day. But it’s not just that kind of content we are competing with. We’ve got Instagram, for example, Insta reels, Insta Stories, IG TV, Instagram posts, and you’ve got your Facebook posts, your Facebook Lives, your LinkedIn, YouTube videos, plus all different types of vlogs and blogs.

So it’s not that easy. You may know, nowadays when you type something in on Google, Google is no longer rewarding the newest content or the person who posts the most. It might be a blog that was written four years ago that comes up top on Google, because there’s an algorithm involved and Google’s little gremlin is scouring the internet all the time and will reward those people that hosts websites that are really popular on topics that are trending.

So how do we get popular? How do we trend amongst this big world out there of blogging?

First of all, what is a blog? Put simply, it’s just a cool way of writing an article for online publications. When it’s on LinkedIn, we call it an article. Then you might use the exact same article for your website, or for someone else’s website and it’s called a blog. There are many advantages to blogs and they are vital for your digital success. It’s like a drop in the bath. As I always like to say we’re adding little drops all the time in that bath and then over time, if you are consistently posting to your website you are going to be rewarded and it’s just giving you more chance of being seen.

I like to call it the SEO lottery. So each time you post a blog, or you upload a video or post a press release on your website, or you go live on Facebook, you are buying a ticket in the SEO lottery. What’s SEO? It stands for search engine optimisation, and that means you are optimised for visibility when people type your keyword into Google. So in my case, it might be public relations, public relations training, or public speaking training. My potential clients are typing those keywords into Google and through the power of blogs and other content strategies, I’ve been coming up as one of the top websites when people type that in.

To increase your SEO chances, you need to post fresh content, and post consistently, because that’s going to help you become found in more places. If other people are mentioning your name, Google detects that you must be a bit of an authority in your industry and Google is rewarding people like you who are mentioned on different websites multiple times. You then get rewarded and are then seen in the front page of Google.

But we are not just writing blogs for search engine optimisation reasons. You being the author of online articles positions you as an expert authority in your industry. So whether you’re a psychologist, a chiropractor, you own a retreat, a dance school, you’re a business coach – whatever your career is, if you are consistently posting blogs, which you’re then sharing on social media which other people can then share, it helps position you as an expert in your field.

This is exactly how I found my financial planner. She was consistently posting articles about investing, budgeting, credit card debt, and I would read her content online and I would see her as an authority in her industry. So blogs are really powerful. On the other side of the coin, when I get busy and don’t post consistently with my blogs, I can see that I’m no longer top of Google when someone types in the words ‘Public speaking training Newcastle.’ So I actually know the effects of not posting consistently.

Finally, when we talk about the word length of blogs, we usually say anywhere from 300 words up until a few thousand words. You should put images and links in them as well.

The important thing with blog writing is just to start! Most people will not read every word of your articles, so just get in there, start typing and publish!