The Case Of The Missing Blog
"Do you have a blog?"
Whenever I sit down with a new client that's one of the first questions I ask. You may be saying this to yourself..."Betsy, you should have checked the client's website before the meeting." And you're right. But read on:
At our first meeting I have already spent some deep analysis time on my client's website. If there is a blog I should know, right? But I've learned through experience to ask that question anyway, even when I didn't find a blog. That's because sometimes the answer is an emphatic "Yes, we have a blog!" So where is the missing blog?
The blog is on a completely different domain.
When your blog lives on one domain and your company website lives on another it's usually because you wanted to avoid hiring a developer to build and imbed it in your site. WordPress, in particular, is so easy to use, that it can seem like a great idea to just do it yourself. So you go ahead register a new domain name, host it either on your usual host, or even on WordPress' server, and and launch your blog. Imedding it in your website takes skills you don't have. But, whatever you have saved can often cost you a lot in the long run.
If you're serious about blogging then it's important that your blog is a part of your company website, and here's why:
4 Reasons Why Your Blog Must Be Part of Your Website
- Your Website Needs Visitors - Google loves a popular website and popularity is partially measured by the amount of visits your site gets. So, if you disseminate your blogs through Social Media and other methods, and your blog is not on your main domain, all the visitors you're attracting are going to a separate blog and your company site is getting none of that "popularity juice."
- Your Website Is Your Home Base - Your company website is the home base of your brand. When someone finds you through a blog post, you want that person to land where in the place where all wonderful reasons to do business with you are laid out.
- Extra Clicks Are Extra Work - Although you may have a link to your company website on that separate blog, you are asking your reader to take the time to find and click the link. Yep, it's only a click, but it's extra work and if your readers aren't real motivated to find and click on the link, you've lost 'em.
- "Confusion Trumps Persuasion Every Time" - That's a quote from Dr. Flint McGlaughlin of Marketing Experiments and it's so true on the web. If your blog is on one domain and your website is on another...it's confusing! A confused visitor will not be motivated to find out more about you. Worse yet, he or she may even leave with the idea your company itself is confusing!
Creating compelling content and disseminating it across the web is hard work. Make your hard work count. Land your readers on your company website. Your website needs that juice!
Is there a time you can think of when it may be advantageous to have a blog on a separate domain?