Big fish, small fish – how important is a blog for SEO?

Apr 10, 2024

So, here we go. A simple answer to a simple question for once. A blog is very important. Why and how, is a more difficult question though.

We all know that content drives SEO but, for the sake of example, if you are a small business in Northampton what does that actually mean to you? In the real world, what should you be doing if you are looking to create content that pulls people to your site?

A blog is very important for SEO. Why and how, are more difficult questions.

Is content more important than design?

One issue I sometimes see when I do a website walk, particularly when we are looking at early attempts at self-design sites by a business, is that the design isn’t helping the content. We have a quote on our site from renowned web page usability expert, Jakob Neilsen that sums this up. It makes the point that people visit your website for the content above all else.

Not that design and user experience (UX) don’t matter, of course they do, but ultimately, they are the place where you put the content that your visitor came for. Good designers know this. They create effective, outstanding spaces, in which the content can do its job. On my site for example I frequently defer to input from the good folks at Pearson Treehouse on everything web design’y. I speak to them with my fancy ideas, and they casually and kindly make them work better. Firstly, John, the giant, very clever, man that runs it, knows exactly what he is doing, so why would I not listen to his advice? Secondly, they understand the role the website plays in my ongoing goals. They take what I need and they create an online environment that complements the content. I do the same the other way around. I frequently look at the copy in situ and make changes. That’s exactly how it should be. Good design is important, but the copy will bring people to you in the first place, then keep them there and convert them into a customer.

If you want proof of all this, how often did you type ‘find me a really clever bit of website design to look at’ into Google in the last few months? Unless you have a particular interest in that area, I’m guessing not a lot. In fact, even if you did have an interest in that result, google would answer based on suitable content, not via an arbitrary decision made by someone in a little room at that impressive new Google HQ in Kings Cross. Which is a shame because that person in the little room could have popped over to the Kimchi restaurant opposite and had the house Bipimbap, it’s very good indeed. Where was I... oh yes, content for blogs.

Great, all very interesting but how do blogs help my business?

Ok, so let’s get into how they work. The first point to remember is that a blog should be useful. It should answer a question, expand on the information that brought people to the site, give confidence to the customer to contact you, or similar. Answer a question, offer new information and show benefits in a way the customer wants to see them. Once you know the subject, answer a question. Be the person typing a question they would ask you as a customer, then answer it. As long as you are doing this, you will be on the right lines.

So how do blogs help your business specifically?

Ah, now this is where you need to be a little cannier with your writing. So, let’s take an example of a small business that has a relatively small catchment area. I am writing this close to the banks of the river Avon in Leamington Spa. Since it has taken the trouble to wind its way down from Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick just to go past my house, the least I can do is give it a mention. So, Leamington it is. Now imagine my business supplies office furniture. Desks, chairs, wastepaper bins… not much there for a blog. Well, obviously there is, or I wouldn’t have used it as an example. Let’s follow a few logical steps.

The business supplies a local area so:
- Mention the area in the content regularly (but don’t ‘geostuff’ or it will become unreadable)
- Look for reasonable links in the area to talk about that will target your customers.
Research Leamington Spa for key business areas.
- Leamington is known as Silicon Spa because of the high number of digital companies in the area. Specifically, it is known for the games industry.
- Several large names including Land Rover, Tata and Aga have a presence in the area.
- Tachbrook and Sydenham business parks (and others) host start-ups as well established businesses.
What are these people (clearly your customers) interested in that they would search for it and hit your site?
- Office Supplies Leamington Spa (and Warwick and Stratford maybe) is the obvious… so yes, but also be more specific.
What do businesses in the gaming and digital industries do all day… they sit down.
- Potential title – How to set up your workspace.
WAIT… how many have hybrid working patterns… probably a lot of them
- Potential title - How to set up a home working environment with limited space?
OHHHHH and also – would they be worried about the associated issues of sitting down too long?
- Potential title – Standing desks – A fad or the future of home working environments.
- Potential title – Standing and sitting desks – A guide to the difference in setting them up correctly.
By coincidence, you happen to have a special for summer in standing desks with free delivery to the Leamington, Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick areas.

What you have done with your blog is target a specific reader. You have answered a series of very precise questions relevant to your buying audience. It is a genuinely useful, helpful, informed but highly targeted, and location-based answer to searches such as ‘Should I get a standing desk’, and ‘Where can I get more information on buying a standing desk in Leamington Spa?’ ‘Do I need a special set up for home working’, ‘What are the benefits of a standing desk?’, and similar questions as well as general information.

When you get a response to your call to action of ‘Call one of our ergonomic work environment specialists if you want more info on standing desks’ you know that the caller is already fairly committed to the idea of a standing desk. The standing desk you have in your current offer.

You are using the blog as a sales tool.

By the time you get the call from a process like this one, the blog has pre-filtered and qualified the customers. All you need to do is not mess up the sale and convert them to a client.

Not only that but the national suppliers spent a fortune on being a big fish nationally and grabbing the odd sale from your catchment area. Whereas you were the big fish in the small pond, gathering up all the customers who wanted information specific to their questions.

Will it work all the time, no, of course not. Will the big players still get the pay-per-click business? Yes, of course they will. But not to put too fine a point on it… screw the big fish, you got a sale from your blog that you wouldn’t have otherwise got. Do that 1 search in 5 and I’m guessing you will be happy.

Blogs are not a magic bullet, but if you do them right, they can bolster and generate sales. It just takes a little technique and a little thought to make the most of them for your business.

The Content Generator is here to make sure you get the content you need. By you or for you, whatever works for you.