One of the most important metrics for small businesses is ROI or return on investment. The accounting department, for example, might look at the spending on Google AdWords, and calculate the money spent on paper click advertising on Google versus the revenue achieved. When they look at this they may calculate not only the single click value but also the so-called lifetime value of a particular client. For example, a CPA firm might realize a $300 benefit from a single tax return, but that client might be coming back to the firm many times over the years, thereby generating a much higher return on the original advertising investment.
Thus, when calculating return on investment in terms of marketing, you have to look both at the single click value as well as the long-term value of any effort.
Search Engine Optimization Has Higher ROI than AdWords (Most of the Time)
Often, in my humble experience, the impact of search engine optimization is much higher than the impact of Internet advertising. This occurs because of a number of reasons. First, people often ignore ads! Therefore the volume of clicks from Google to your website based on organic rankings will often be much, much higher than the volume of clicks that you would get from advertising. If you have to choose one, then search engine optimization is far, far better than advertising, in most situations in terms of ROI. Second, your ad stops and starts based on whether or not you are paying Google, where as your organic rank can often keep going and going according to the proverbial Energizer bunny.
Why Blogging Helps SEO
Which brings us to blogging. Blogging is one of the most effective things you can do for your organic rank on Google! Why is this so? First, blogging sends a freshness signal to Google. Given two websites, one that has a blog that is being updated with frequent and new posts versus one that does not have updates, the website that has fresh content, all things considered, will win. This freshness signal filters through all of the content of your website, not just the blog post itself. I recommend that for search engine optimization purposes you have one click links from your homepage to your individual blog posts.
Second, blogging allows you to focus on so-called longtail or micro-search patterns. Whereas your landing pages might be on a topic such as motorcycle insurance, your blog posts can be on specific topics such as motorcycle insurance rates, motorcycle insurance quotes, and customer queries such as how to choose the best motorcycle insurance. Blogging, in other words, allows you to be much more focused and much more targeted than your general landing pages.
Four Blog Posts Per Month for SEO (and Social Media)
I recommend that you do at least four blog posts per month, and schedule these out on a weekly basis. For most small businesses a weekly blog is sufficient to get a high return on investment in terms of their blogging versus search engine optimization expenditures as measured in blood, sweat, tears, and, of course, money. And, it’s a twofer: blogging is not only great for SEO but great for Social Media Marketing, too, as your blogs can be shared on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, etc. So start blogging!