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Why You Should Hire a Professional Blogger

Professional BloggerFor businesses both old and new nothing is more important than keeping your company’s name fresh on people’s minds. One of the best ways of accomplishing this is by keeping an active blog. A blog keeps fresh content on your website, adding value for visitors and drawing in search engine spiders.

Frequently businesses decide to use on-staff writers instead of hiring freelance bloggers. While this might seem like a logical idea at the time, there are several drawbacks to tying up your resources for blog maintenance. Sometimes business owners themselves attempt to update their blog. Unfortunately despite their best intentions, they usually give up, losing out on valuable online marketing opportunities.

There are many benefits to hiring a professional blogger including:

  • Frees up your time and resources
  • Saves you money
  • Improves the quality and value of your blog

Every single hour that you or your employees invest in your blog is an hour that is not spent on more important tasks such as interacting with clients, developing better products and services or managing your social media campaign. When you outsource to a freelance writer you are able to free up your time and resources, allowing you to focus on your core business.

Even though freelance bloggers charge a higher per-blog rate than employees on your staff, hiring a professional blogger is actually much less expensive than employing in-house writers. This is because the overall costs involved with hiring a full-time employee are significantly higher than outsourcing to a professional writer. When you hire a professional blogger, they only charge for the finished product, and only when you require their services. There is no need to purchase additional computers, provide office space, pay for training, benefits, sick days or vacations.

The quality of your blog is extremely important to its overall success as an online marketing tool. If you have to read through and edit everything in your blog then it’s not saving you any time or money. A competent professional blogger is an expert in the art of writing and communication. They spend their time researching, writing and editing so that you can focus on what really matters. An experienced professional blogger understands the ins and outs of writing and what is necessary to keep your intended audience engaged while attracting the proper attention of the search engines.

For information about how Alter Impact can help your business reach more clients, please contact us today.

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Custom Website Design vs. Online Site Builders

Many times we have been asked the question,

“Why should I pay you to build a site that I can easily build online myself with one of those new web building tools?”

The truth of the matter is that anyone (with a little technical knowledge) can find a site online to build a simple web presence that will display information about their business and get them online fast and inexpensively… but at what cost?

The general public is getting smarter about the web and technology, they can smell an imposter from a mile away! Having links back to the site builder or sales links to the hosting company that provided the link can tell people many things about your business (not professional, not interested in marketing properly, no room for growth.)

Several questions you should ask yourself before making a decision on custom website design versus site builders:

1. Do I want my website to have a Custom Design?

Most free or cheap website builder programs include “templates” or pre-built sites for you to access and enter your information. These give you very little creative muscle to flex and can leave your site dry and unprofessional looking. The end product will not only look like everyone else that has come through the same builder, but also utilizes the graphics, photos and other things that would take away from the originality of your business.

A custom website design from a professional designer will allow you to portray the image your business is trying to show, and will let you choose what it looks like and how it functions.

2. Do you require custom functionality?

Site builders may be great at building an online brochure, but are you looking for more functionality such as custom contact forms, calendars, calculators or other unique features?

A custom website can allow you to explore some of the unique concepts and features your customers are looking for. It opens your site up to offerings that your competitors don’t have (or don’t have done well.)

3. Will your target market appreciate a generic site?

Professional website builders should get to know your target market before even attempting to start your project. Site builders have no intuitive thinking to give you recommendations on what works best for your industry, or how to properly reach your target market. A generic website may tell your customers “yes we are in business, but no we are not interested in keeping an appropriate image of what we do.”

4. Do you want the Search Engines to list your site?

While some site builders have effectively found a way to get rankings (not usually from the site itself, mostly from a unique concept) most of them produce generic code which is not SEO friendly from the start. Custom websites can open the door to keyword inclusion, clean code and other criteria that the site builders simply cannot provide.

Of course, a good professional builder can help to REALLY unlock your potential when it comes to SEO and search friendly content, but that is the topic of another article!

There are many more things to consider when making a decision regarding how to build your site. We agree that their are circumstances where a generic site builder website will work for some businesses, but we also firmly believe that you will get out what you put into your website. Your customers will notice the effort and will appreciate that you care about your business image online… not just about saving  some money.

Alter Impact Website Design and Marketing provides design and development services as well as online marketing tools to help your business look and feel unique. Our services will help you explore your online potential and provide your customers with a quality online experience.

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Why a Blog?

Why a Blog?Laptop

As a professional blogger the most common question I hear is “why do I need a blog?”  After all, most people believe that a well-built website is enough to get their business noticed online. Some business owners still believe that they don’t even need a website. The fact is we are living in a world that depends upon the internet. If people can’t find your business online, then they probably aren’t going to find your business at all. Although a well-built website is a great first step to getting noticed online, it can only take you so far. That’s where a blog comes into play.

A professionally written blog, based on key points related directly to your business, keeps your online presence fresh, ensuring that more consumers can find you.  For example, if you own a real estate business, topics should not only relate to the current state of the real estate market, but also to topics that potential buyers might be interested in. This ensures that your blog reaches a wider range of readers, which will increase traffic to your website, increasing the opportunity for many new clients.

However, not all blogs are created equal.  A poorly written blog can affect your business negatively. The last thing you want is for readers to believe that you do not properly understand your business. A blog that is written in such a way that makes the reader feel inferior for not understanding the topic can be just as bad. Blogs about topics that aren’t interesting to readers almost seem to disappear online. The following is the formula for a well-written blog:

  • The topics of your blogs should be based upon what people are currently looking up online.
  • Blogs should be written in a way that is easy to understand.
  • Blogs should be informative.
  • Blogs should be keyword heavy, while still adhering to Search Engine guidelines.
  • Blogs should be the ideal length to keep readers interested.
  • New blogs should be posted at least once per week for best results.

A well-written blog can be a great asset to any business, big or small. Numbers don’t lie, and our blogs have proven results. If you’re ready to get noticed, contact us and ask us how we can help you start a blog today!