As more and more people learn about the power of business blogging and how blog articles can help improve your rank in the search engines, a common request that I am getting these days is to add a blog to an existing web site.
This very easy to do if your web site has been built on a Content Management System (see last week’s article on Adding Features to your CMS Web Site.) The blog is a standard module on all content management systems, so all you have to do is install the blog module and start writing. The blog should automatically take on the look & feel of your web site.
If you’re not on a CMS yet, no worries. Most hosting companies offer free blogging software such as WordPress and often the blog installation is as simple as a push of a button. Once it is installed, you need to add a link to your website menu so that people can access the blog and you’re off and running.
Yes, it’s that simple to add a blog to your web site but (Come on! You knew a “but” was coming!) it won’t be pretty. The standard WordPress web site is fairly blah and definitely won’t match the rest of your beautifully designed web site. This is when you need to find a web developer who is skilled in CSS to customize your blog for you.
WordPress is highly customizable. In addition to customizing the look & feel to match the rest of your web site, there are lots of interesting WordPress modules that can be installed and customized to expand your blog’s functionality and make a visit to your blog a unique experience. One example of a WordPress plug-in that I find invaluable is the email notification module. Visitors to your blog can sign up to receive email notifications whenever you post a new blog article. This not only keeps your readers informed of your latest posts, but also saves them time so that they don’t have to keep checking back to see if you’ve written anything new.
So why not add a blog to your web site and start building up your presence in the search engines. The more posts you write, the greater your odds of being found. Chances are that your competitors have already started blogging, so what are you waiting for?