- Starting a blog is great for SEO. It provides more content for Google and other search engines to use when ranking your site. You'll show up in more searches and be more highly ranked when you do.
- Starting a blog gives visitors more reasons to keep visiting. Most websites are static: they sell a particular set of products or services, and the only time anyone visits the site is when they have a specific need for those products or services. A blog gives visitors another reason to come back.
- Starting a blog gives you a reason to share your site's content on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. When you share your blog with your followers, they're much more likely to share it with people they know.
To start a blog, you'll first need to add one to your site. Since you're using Weebly, this is the easy part: go to the "Pages" tab in the editor, click the + button to add a page, and select "Blog Page."
Congratulations! You've officially started a blog. Now what?
What to Write
The internet is littered with blogs that have a single post titled something like, "Starting a Blog Today!" The owners may as well have posted "Ending a Blog Today!" since they never posted anything else. Few things make a site look less serious than a blog with a single post that was written six months ago.
Avoid this mistake by making a list of topics you'll cover over your first several posts, keeping in mind that your blog can (and should) be more informal than the rest of your site. A blog provides a perfect opportunity to expand on yourself and/or the personality of your brand.
Have a bakery? Spotlight some of your favorite recipes. Delve into what inspired you to cook. Share some funny Julia Child videos.
Using your site as an online resume? Discuss your interests. Post photos from recent trips. Detail why you chose and love your career path.
Sell bicycles? Post about the increasing number of bike lanes in your city. Tell stories from recent bike rides. Share information about trails, races and nearby events.
None of these posts have to be all that long either. A few paragraphs or a few photos (or both) are all that's needed. Once you have some topics in mind, be sure to follow these guidelines:
Post Regularly
Create a publishing calendar and stick to it. Once a week is ideal, but a couple of times a month is perfectly fine. Sticking to a schedule is as much for you as your potential readers, because if you simply post when the inspiration strikes, then life will likely get in the way and you'll end up with an empty blog.
Write Ahead of Time, Schedule for Later
Weebly provides the option to write a post and schedule it to publish at a later date. It can go out at 4:37 this afternoon, tomorrow, in a week, or even twenty years from now if you're particularly good at planning ahead.
Schedule for later by clicking on the "Options" button in the lower left of the editor when working on a post.
When a post goes live, share it across your social networks. If you don't want to manually do this, Weebly can automatically post to Facebook and Twitter for you. Activate auto-posting through the "Edit Share Settings" option found right underneath the "Scheduled Time" section discussed above.
When visitors comment on your blog, try to reply on the same day. They'll be more likely to visit and comment again if they know you're listening. You can choose between several comment systems: Weebly's own, Disqus, or Facebook. Choose whichever one you like best.
Start a blog today and you'll see the benefits in no time! What works best on your blog? Share your favorite blogging tips in the comments.