In 1984 – the tale of a boy who steals a book called The Neverending Story” was brought to life on the movie screen. In the movie, the book magically transports the boy to the fantasy world of Fantasia where a dark force called “The Nothing” threatens it’s existence. In the end – the boy’s mere wishes banish the dark forces from not only Fantasia but also in the “real” world as well.
Two decades later – it takes more than mere wishes to banish the dark force of “The Nothing” from your business web presence.
A few years ago – I began introducing business owners to a new type of web presence for their business – a business blog. These business blogs were great for businesses on so many levels. Because of the flat site architecture imposed by the blog – the search engines have an easy time getting around inside the site to index the content. Because content is easy to add – updating and adding new tasty “spider food” for the web bots is a snap.
Yet even though business blogs are great marketing tools for business owners, I still recieve constant “push back” from business owners when it comes to launching a business blog.
A recent conversation gave me fresh insight as to the “why” behind the push back regarding business blogs. This prospective client had a vision of her business web presence as a “finished” product. She thought of her web site like a movie – a movie on VHS – with a definite beginning, middle and end. She didn’t want the visitor to have the option available on DVD’s to “select a scene” – she wanted the visitor to read the opening page followed by the next page in the navigation menu, and so forth.
It’s nice to dream – and it’s nice to wish. However, wishing and dreaming won’t change the way things REALLY work on the web.
The way it really works on the web is that every page of your web presence is a potential “entry” page. If your web presence were to take the form of a house – every room would have a door which leads outside but no windows. Second story rooms would also have doors which lead outside – although in the words of ancient Saturday morning cartoons, “Watch that first step – it’s a loo loo.” Those precarious second story rooms would be pages that are more than 1 click from any other page. Internal links on your site are the interconnecting hallways which allow visitors to navigate your site without going “back” outside.
Admittedly – this doesn’t sound like an appealing physical structure for your business – but online this is “reality.” Any attempts to block those doors to the outside and “funnel” visitors through the site according to your plan will only result in the dark force of “The Nothing” taking over your site.
The key to a healthy, wealth producing business website is to be constantly creating new rooms for visitors -and search engines alike – to explore. If each page on your business website is a room – then your goal should be to set up a table in the center of that room – and provide cookies, finger sandwiches and a wide assortment of beverages you know your visitors will enjoy.
Which is why – blogs make such a GREAT foundation for your business web presence – especially if you’re a small business owner. Your business blog allows you to create new rooms at will for your business home on the web. If you discover a new customer base – you simply start creating new content on your business blog – creating new rooms filled with tasty morsels loved by humans and search spiders alike.
As for the client who wanted to create a static web presence with only one way in – think of what would happen in the “real” world if a room was devoid of light and the only way in or out was through an inner hallway. As for the once tasty morsels on the tables in the various rooms – well, since those won’t be consumed by either search engine spiders or visitors – they won’t be tasty morsels for long.
Your blog for your business allows you the opportunity to easily create lots of compelling content for prospective clients/customers. Admittedly – business blogging is like writing the Neverending Story – but the good news is that the more content you create – the more tables you set out for prospective customers/clients who visit your business blog a.k.a. web site.
