A lot of people don’t realize the importance and the impact of having a blog. Creating, updating and maintaining a blog can do wonders for both your website and your personal brand. Having a blog is more than simply throwing opinions onto a website and hoping people notice you – it’s about showcasing your expertise for all things web and can benefit you through SEO (if done correctly).

If you are in web design, development or Internet marketing at all, you MUST have a blog. If you do have a blog (and keep it up-to-date), good job! If you don’t have a blog, go start one immediately (I’ll wait here).

Where will people go when they are looking for a web designer? The Web. That being said, if you have a blog that shows you know your stuff, potential clients will be impressed and they will trust you. In addition to that, having an updated blog with relevant keywords to users’ search terms may lead to a higher search ranking on Google. Blogging is a win-win situation – there is nothing to lose.

Now that I’ve got you convinced (hopefully) that blogging is important, I’d like to give a few helpful tips & tricks to get the most out of your blog.

Tip #1: Have an AWESOME Post Title

Blog post titles and headlines are attention-grabbers. Which would you rather read?

“Maximize Efficiency Through This Web Tool” OR  “Stop Wasting Time. Make Money.”

While your title should be relevant to what your post is actually about, make sure to keep it interesting. People reading blogs want you to get straight to the point. Put benefits first or ask a question – anything that keeps your reader’s interest.

Tip #2: Include Calls-To-Action

Blogs are full of important and useful information, but always make sure to encourage some reader interaction. What do you want from your readers? Do you want them to look at your web design company’s page? Do you want them to comment on your post? Tell them and make them feel useful!

Tip #3: Update Old Blog Posts

iNoobs: Tips for New BloggersWas there a post that did particularly well on your blog? Keep that one updated with current information. I once wrote a blog post about web design/development and what it ACTUALLY costs to build a website. It’s a question that is asked a lot and did extremely well on Atilus’ blog, so I updated the information to match that of 2012. If someone stumbles upon a post of yours dealing with outdated information, you may have lost a potential sale.

Tip #4: Post on Someone Else’s Blog

This doesn’t really have to do with improving your own blog, but guest blogging can have a great impact on your personal brand (and hence, your own blog). If you are able to be a guest blogger on another technology website, you can increase your authority on the web. This also has to do with SEO and can only help increase your search ranking. In addition, you will simply have more people in your audience.

Tip #5: Link Your Blog to Social Media

Readers should be able to directly share or tweet your blog directly from the blog post page – this also simply increases the scale of your audience. If you (or your company) participate in social networking websites, post new blogs to your pages to keep fans, followers, etc. in the loop

What are your opinions on blogging? Do you use these tips or have others to offer? Leave your thoughts and comments below!

iNoobs: Tips for New Bloggers

Zach Katkin

Zach Katkin – Entrepreneur, Web Developer, Designer and Writer – is the co-founder of Florida Web Design Company Atilus. In business for nearly a decade, Atilus has more than 300 clients worldwide. Additionally Zach also owns a number of web properties including Promana.net, a resource for Small Business Software News.