5 Reasons Your Small Business Should Have a Blog

5 Reasons Your Small Business Should Have a Blog

by | Mar 15, 2020 | Business Dev

Blogging seems to be the thing these days.

More and more small businesses have decided to create and maintain a blog on their company website. Your organization may benefit from doing the same. Here are five compelling reasons to write a blog post:

1. Blogs Can Drive More Traffic to Your Website

Blogging a few times each month can be an excellent way to draw visitors to your website. They may click on a post you make about a topic that interests them and then decide to stick around and purchase a product or book a service appointment from you. When you look at your analytics, you are likely to notice a direct link between your blog posts and the additional conversions you pick up during the month.

2. Blogs Can Help Your Website Gain More Inbound Links

Inbound links are simply links that come from another website to your own. External sites usually link back to your blogs because they find your information useful and would like to share it with their visitors. Such links can have several advantages, including improving your rankings on search engine results pages. 

3. Blogs Can Improve Brand Recognition

Blogging is a superb way to tell the public about your brand’s goals and beliefs. A well-crafted blog post is a perfect way to spread your message. Before long, customers will begin to become more conscious of your brand and will come back to visit you when they need to purchase one of your products.

4. Blogs Can Help You Appear In Local Searches

If you run a roofing company or HVAC repair business, your customer base is almost entirely contained within a 50 to 100-mile radius of your headquarters. When one of those individuals searches for someone to fix their roof or service their boiler, you want them to find your website. Creating informative blog posts with a local twist can be a superb way to accomplish this feat.

5. Blogs Can Help You Position Your Company as an Industry Leader

When you post a detailed blog about a topic that you are knowledgeable in, readers begin to think of you as an expert on that subject. The next time they need assistance with an issue that is related to that topic, they are likely to get in touch with you, and may even decide to buy one of your products or book a service appointment with you.

What Are You Waiting For?

Blogging is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website, create loyal customers, improve your conversion rates, and build brand recognition. So what are you waiting for? Get writing and start your company blog today!

Consider hiring a professional. View our services.

WP Elevation Certification

WP Elevation Certification

by | Nov 1, 2019 | Business Dev

Kelly Morse has completed certification as a Digital Business Consultant with WP Elevation.

WP Elevation is a global business mastermind group for WordPress consultants that helps its members better serve their clients through communication, development workflow and project management best practices.

WP Elevation gives its members access to ongoing education and a community of peers for support and continued professional development.

The presence of the WP Elevation badge on our website means you can rest assured that you are in good hands for your website project and we have the skills and certifications to deliver results for your business.

You can learn more about WP Elevation here.

Do you need help with your WordPress website project?

Get in touch with us and let’s see if we can help.

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Why Website Maintenance is Key to a Successful Website

Why Website Maintenance is Key to a Successful Website

by | Oct 28, 2019 | Business Dev, Wordpress

YOU HAVE A WEBSITE THAT IS CRUCIAL to your business. It generates leads, customers, and revenue. It’s a channel through which customers will find you and engage with you. It is fundamental to the success of your business and you want peace of mind that it will be up and available for your audience 24/7, without interruption.

 

Protect Your Investment

Software is vulnerable and needs to be updated — all software — including the software that powers your website. No one can promise your site will never get hacked, but prevention lowers the odds significantly. By regularly monitoring your site, updating software and security plugins, detecting for malware and promptly removing it — you can trust you’re doing all you can to protect your investment.

 

Websites Are No Longer “Fix and Forget”

If you don’t have website maintenance carried out monthly, you may actually be throwing money out the window. When visitors go to a website and find it slow or problematic, they often don’t stick around. Many website owners never check their website to see how it’s functioning. Missed website issues or downtime can lose potential customers.

 

Benefits of Maintenance

Many people don’t realize the benefits of regular site maintenance:

1. Security

It’s essential to keep your software updated to prevent malware. As technology evolves, website software is constantly changing to make it more secure, faster and more visible to search engines.

2. Performance

Your website’s speed, load time, downtime and uptime — its performance — is dependent on the software and plugins functioning as they should.

3. Growth

For your website to grow — and be found on the world wide web by more and more people — you need to be adding fresh content, monitoring analytics and making design changes frequently.

 

Costs More to Fix than Maintain

Inexperience and neglect can damage the look and functionality of your website. When that happens, you have a choice to make. One, you try and fix it yourself, in which case you may do further damage. Or two, you can then pay the (sometimes hefty) price for someone experienced to fix it. Just like your car, it costs more to fix it than it does to maintain it properly. Regular oil changes help keep your car running properly, regular site maintenance keeps your web site running properly.

 

Do It Yourself?

Keeping your website up to date, backed up and secure can be time-consuming and a little tedious. It takes you away from what you probably should be doing, which is building relationships with your customers and growing your business.

Technology continues to rapidly evolve — are you equipped to keep abreast of all the trends and developments?

 

Call in a Professional

Would you try to fight a court battle without a lawyer? Then why try to maintain your own website if you’re not a web professional? By securing an experienced web professional to update and maintain your site properly you are actually saving potential lost sales and visitors.

Why not deal with what you know best and let a web professional deal with what they know best.

Interested?

If you’re interested in securing a website care plan for your web site, contact us to learn how YAP™ Website Solutions can keep your site in proper working order.

10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Facebook Business Page

10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Facebook Business Page

by | Oct 24, 2019 | Business Dev, Social Media

There are 2.41 billion Facebook users worldwide. Of course, not all those people are going will be looking for a business like yours. Even so, it’s a safe bet that a large proportion of your potential customers do use Facebook. It’s statistics like this that make most businesses set up a Facebook business page.

But there are many businesses that have never explored the full potential of the platform. If you are not getting the engagement on Facebook that you had hoped for, it might be time to make some changes. Here are ten easy ways that you can make your Facebook business page work much better for you.

1. Use the Right Page Template

Facebook offers a range of business page templates. There are different page layouts for different sectors. Some of the page templates do look similar, but they do offer industry-specific benefits. The template for venues, for example, allows you to display upcoming events. The services template makes it easy for visitors to find the services that you offer. The template for restaurants and cafés allows you to display your menus. Using one of the industry-specific Facebook templates avoids you having to use the one-size-fits-all business page.

2. Make Full Use of the About Section

The about section is the first thing that people will look at on your Facebook business page. It is important that you complete all the fields that are applicable to your business. An incomplete about section suggests to a visitor that the page is not well maintained. Take time to think about the descriptions of your business, and don’t forget to add your website URL. Remember, this could be the first time that a visitor has come across your business. So, it’s important that you make a good first impression.

3. Upload a Quality Cover Image or Video

Make full use of the cover of your Facebook page. That space at the top of your page is in a prime location to grab the attention of a visitor. You can use that space to promote your business in an eye-catching way. Your Facebook cover image doesn’t need to be only your business logo. You can also use the cover to display a brand message. You could have a summary of your services or products on the cover. Or, you could promote a special offer or an event. The cover of your Facebook doesn’t have to be a static image either. You can use short videos as well. There are lots of possible ways of using this prime real estate on Facebook. So, make the most of this valuable space.

4. Stay On-Brand

Remember that your Facebook business page is an extension of your brand. Your brand identity on Facebook must be the same as it is on other platforms. Everything you post on Facebook should have a business purpose. You can post humorous or off-the-wall content on your Facebook business page. But, your content must be on-brand and it must have a business goal.

5. Consistency Is Key

People “like” Facebook business pages because they want to keep up to date with the brand. In that respect, your likes are no different from someone subscribing to a mailing list. Posting new content on a regular basis will encourage more likes. And, it will engage your Facebook community. Consistency in your Facebook posting is essential. If you can’t post daily or weekly, at least post monthly. That will keep your users coming back for more.

6. Keep Posts Interesting and Relevant

Vary the types of posts that you make on your Facebook page to keep the page interesting. Remember that you can use images, infographics, videos, and links to blog posts. Make the content on your Facebook page different from the content on other platforms. People often use Facebook business pages to discover more about a brand. They will not want to see only the content they have already seen on other platforms on your Facebook page.

7. Use Facebook as the “Backdoor” Into Your Business

Remember that Facebook is a “social” media platform. It is a space where people interact with, family, friends, and Facebook communities. The social aspect of Facebook makes it perfect for showcasing the human side of a business. You can post behind the scenes stories and images on your Facebook business page. You could introduce visitors to key members of your staff. The content should still be relevant to your brand, but it can be more personal in nature on your Facebook page.

8. Offer Exclusives

Another way to capitalize on the personal appeal of a Facebook page is to use it for exclusive offers. You could offer Facebook users special, time-limited discount codes, for example. That would give people a reason to come back to your page. Exclusive offers will also encourage the sharing of your posts. You might also use Facebook to launch new products and promote special events. You can promote these Facebook offers on your website and on other platforms. But, making them Facebook only offers will drive more users to your Facebook page.

9. Interact with Other Facebook users

Never lose sight of the fact that Facebook is a community. Interact with your own users and with other Facebook pages. Respond to comments left on your Facebook page. It’s another way to show the human side of your brand. Plus, comments can provide valuable feedback. Like other business pages in your niche as well. And, comment on posts on other business pages. Interacting with other Facebook pages related to your own niche will help people find your own page.  You will also find that other businesses will reciprocate with likes and comments on your page.

10. Boost Posts and Use Facebook Advertising

Once you have optimized your Facebook page, you can start using Facebook advertising. Organic traffic on Facebook is becoming more difficult to achieve. But, the paid options for advertising and boosting posts can be very effective. You can use the paid options to increase traffic to your website. It is on your website that you will be able to convert visitors into customers. Paid Facebook advertising will also increase the popularity of your Facebook business page. It will attract more likes and comments.

Conclusion

If a business makes a commitment to Facebook, the platform can be a valuable source of leads. Facebook also provides an effective way of communicating with customers.

Facebook has faced a lot of criticism of late. The platform has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Despite that, Facebook can still provide an excellent way for a business to get their message out to a wide audience. The first step, though, is to make your Facebook page look smart and professional.