Should I Use Blogger for My Business Website? Realistic Pros vs Cons over Wordpress.

How Using Blogger Might Save Your Small Business Hundreds of Dollars Every Year

This article is not actually meant to be a "Blogger vs. Wordpress" checklist, it is meant to explain why Blogger is a effective and easy system to consider for most small business owners, and its potential for saving a lot of money and time when getting a company website up and running by lowering setup and maintenance costs.

META: A screenshot me me updating my Blogger with this article. 

Ok, so you're a small business owner and you're already familiar with the fact that a web presence is a very important factor in a modern company, and you've probably already heard of Wordpress and gotten an estimated quote of between 3-6 thousand dollars for a site by an established firm or freelancer, and rates pertaining to site maintenance and marketing. Now, let me try to present the Blogger solution for small business that I specialize in and provide some cognitive dissonance.

First off, what is Blogger?

Blogger is a CMS (Content Management System) like Wordpress, currently owned by Google, and was originally designed to be a blog-specific CMS. This meant that there were no static pages (about us, location, etc pages), few design options, and a Blogger Navbar over the pages - all terrible for business sites. However, Google got their stuff together, and overhauled the system to fix these main issues, and now it's a different beast altogether, but retains its focus on the most important thing for marketing on search engines: CONTENT.

Blogger can, although it arguably requires more work, be used as a competent web design tool (since it does have raw HTML and CSS editing with the ability to add jquery/javascript tools), but now, with the addition of static pages and significantly increased flexibility with design, Blogger has become a powerful but overlooked platform to build a site upon.

Of the major names to compare to, the easiest way of looking at it on a scale is:

<---More Standardized |||| More Flexibility--->

<---Ease of Use |||| More Work Required --->

Blogger ---- Wordpress ---- Drupal

In short, Blogger is a platform that has been reduced in terms of potential use to make it easier for the end user to modify and update, but can be hacked into increased functionality.

To summarize for the business owner:
If the website you need is informational in nature (brochure site), need a basic 5-10 page site with a contact form, Google Maps embedded, and a mobile-version ready to go, Blogger might be the option you've been looking for. (...and it's cheaper to setup than a Wordpress site!)

The Blogger template uses a lot of jquery tools to create a traditional website feel, though there are still some Blogger-touches noticeable to the trained eye. The disadvantage is that using Blogger in this way is limited in features and/or tricky to accomplish things that are easy to do with WordPress widgets and plugins.

On the other hand, the main advantages to using Blogger as a website platform are...

1. Free hosting (Google hosted)
2. Unlimited bandwidth
3. Rock solid server security
4. Automatically backed up
5. Simple UI for clients to edit posts and replace photos
6. Multiple users can be given author/admin privileges
7. Great for SEO purposes
8. Easy to integrate with other Google Apps for Business products
9. Mobile-Site ready - most templates can be easily modified to add a mobile version

When we set up a business client with a Blogger website, the most important part is to train them in using the Blogger UI, and expanding on point 5, the content system is incredibly easy to learn, and updating the site with new content is streamlined, and provides real search engine results after 2-3 months/20-30 posts of investment even in competitive markets.


Well, hope this has been informational, and check out our clients list at the bottom of the web design page for examples of happy customers using the Blogger platform for their businesses and groups.

Q: How Does Social Media Affect Local Small Business Search Rankings?

A: From Reddit/r/SEO - A thread in the comment section sums up how a local business should look to approach social media for SEO purposes.

The Original Question:

So I have a website for a local computer repair website. And I keep reading how import having social media is to the business. I have a facebook account, a google+ account, and a twitter and youtube. What should I be posting? Should I be posting a service I offer with a link back to my site on every one of those social platforms everyday. 

Should I be posting deals with a link to my site? I am very confused - a basic strategy would be amazing from any of you. 

My services
Computer repair, apple repair, point of sale repair, laptop repair, Thins along that nature

User Ozymandia5 replies:

No, to be blunt, posting services and links is a terrible way to attract attention. Do you use social media at all? If so, you probably have a relativly good idea of what kind of content gets shared/passed around regularly, particularly in terms of blog posts/articles etc. 

Use your facebook/google+/twitter account to post links about relevant blog posts or infographics to your followers, try to engage people by asking questions that relate to your business or products, and maybe consider running a competition or two The idea, primarily, is to build yourself a decent base of 1-2000 engaged followers, and then have them organically share your content with other users to 

• attract traffic to your site  
• show Google that your site is popular and relevant to its niche.

Reply 

Hello,
When linking to a blog article going to another site. How does Google see that I am engaged as a company sending a link to someone elses site and not mine. 

So I basically do not have to keep linking back to my site just find good articles somewhere post it on my facebook like check out this cool new hard drive or something and link to the blog post or article. 

How often should I do this... should I do this everyday for every social media account? 

I still don't see though how this will rank my site better if nothing points back to my site and is going all over the internet how does google now that my site is social media presence. Cause I keep seeing everywhere that google is looking for your presence all over social media. Thanks again for all your answers as well.

Final Reply from Ozymandia5

Generally, the idea is to leverage social marketing in order to build an engaged client base that will post links to your content elsewhere - which WILL improve your rankings. The initial stages of this do, admitedly, involve posting links that wont reap you any immediate rewards. Such is life. 

You have to think of it as more of a long term investment. That said, your social media accounts should all be linked to, and pointing towards your main website (you input your website when setting up company profiles on most media platforms) and engagement there will contribute to your 'social proof' which may have some small effect on your rankings in the short term. 

In terms of frequency? Experiment. A/B test. post once a day for two weeks, then post every other day for two: has your engagement dropped or improved? Post in the mornings for a month, then switch to afternoons. Any change? 

I'm sure you get the idea. The thing to remember is that nobody will find you engaging if you recklessly promote yourself, and nobody will engage with you if you take a purely narcissistic approach to social media. 

If this all sounds like a giant waste of time, then it might wll be: From personal experience, social media is something that only really works for a small niche of businesses. Of course a presence is always good, but I've never seen facebook or google+ as a particularly integral part of most people's SEO efforts, despite what Moz and co. will tell you. 

The only thing I will say is that I've personally noticed that Google+ has been having more of an impact on local rankings, but only time will really tell. 

Encrypted Search Makes Adwords PPC a Priority in Online Marketing Strategy

How Encrypted (HTTPS) Search Makes PPC and Content Marketing a Priority in Online Marketing Strategy

What the Google Analytics page of most small business owners looks like right now.

Google recently switched over all searches to HTTPS/Encrypted search, making most keyword Analytics data invisible... and online marketers and small business owners around the globe gasped in unison. Thankfully, it was not the end of the world, because keywords and SEO are not the end all be all of a real search marketing strategy.

However, the disappearance of the majority of the keyword data was still pretty hard on small business owners trying to run their own SEO for their business, because it was not just about figuring out which keywords they should focus on. It was about figuring how people are actually finding them.

So in the past, we could say to a client "look, you got x of hits from 'keyword1' and y of hits from 'keyword2,' so we should do this and this and that..." A lot of clients got used to hearing it that way. So the change doesn't affect the job that SEOs do nearly as much as it effects how they report that job to the client. Now, it's just (not provided).

In combination with all of the updates and news in the past, Google's search endgame has always been the same - provide users with the best search results and balance it with their Adwords PPC platform.

4 Major Points in Recent Google SEO History:

1. Adwords started giving advertisers a bid discount for having a high quality landing page with good content.
2. Panda targeted and penalized bad and scraped content. 
3. Penguin hit people who "over optimized" using shady but widespread anchor text link buying techniques.
4. Google moves to encrypted search.

So, with the search being encrypted, the advantage of Adwords PPC becomes apparent: keyword data is open to analyze, and the data can be combined with the data still provided by Analytics to create a non-"over optimized" content strategy and base a creatively organized Adwords campaign around this natural strategy to supplement.

Given these these factors, the next stage of SEO and SEM is what it was always trying to reach - original and organic content, and actively optimized Pay-Per-Click campaigns.

Stay tuned for more on the subject. In the mean time, if you would like us to consult you on your company's PPC and content strategy, contact Rabbit today!

Simple Blogger SEO Tip for Post Titles

A Simple SEO Boost for Individual Blogger/Blogspot Posts & Pages

The Title of any page on Google's SERP (search engine results pages) is limited to 70 characters, but by default, any result for your Blogger page will come up with your Blog's title first, regardless of page or post. However, this is not ideal to get your individual pages ranked, as they might have a different keyword focus from one another.

This little tip will have the individual page/post's title supersede the site's title, allowing for better rankings for different keyword searches.

No need to worry about the technical details - It's a simple replacement of the <head> tag with a short bit of javascript:

1. From Blog, go to Template

IMPORTANT!
CLICK THE BACKUP/RESTORE BUTTON ON TOP RIGHT TO SAVE CURRENT TEMPLATE JUST IN CASE!!!

2. From Template, go to Edit HTML

3. Find the <head> tag near the top of the page
4. Under the <head> tag, find <title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title>

5. Replace <title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title> 

with:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;index&quot;'><title><data:blog.title/></title><b:else/><title><data:blog.pageName/> | <data:blog.title/></title></b:if>

So, in English, if the page in question is the home page, title is blog title, else, title is page/post title followed by "|" then the blog title.

Leave a comment if you have any questions.

Bad Design Might Drive Away Customers for Small Businesses and Freelancers

Why Clean Design is Important for Small Businesses and Freelancers: A relatively short rant pointed at strawmen explaining why cluttered design might drive away business. 

Just a fake logo for a fake company I made up in my head.
Follows my personal best practices for logo design.

Logo and website design is something that is often overlooked by new business owners as it does not pertain to the core of the business, but can mean the difference between a walk-in versus a walk-by because of preconceived notions about quality.

Before we go on, let's see two common examples of bad design from local businesses:

1. The Cluttered Local Coupon

A classic - the local ad done by someone who just learned how to use Photoshop. You've likely seen this one in your local penny saver/coupon book. There are several things that are technically good - the logo is actually clean, and a visible offer, call to action, and contact information. On the other hand... just look at it. 

Despite the fact that house painters don't necessarily need to be professional artists to do their jobs properly, the connotation of working with paint combined with the terrible mismatched design may provide enough cognitive dissonance to make a potential customer think twice about hiring them. 

Also, I get that SEO consultants usually stress the need for Twitter and Facebook, but I just find it silly in cases like this. Really no need to put it in the ad.

2. The Outdated Local Business Website

On a personal level, I know that only a truly experienced freelance Linux admin would have this appreciation of spartan design, but once again, many end customers might not understand that. This example also has good things going for it: Clear info and uncluttered design - unfortunately, the design is outdated by about 20 years. 

The logo looks like it was pulled from MS Word clipart, and all of the components of the webpage just are not themed out and looks disjointed.

So, with these extreme examples of poor design sensibilities in mind, I urge any small business owner to read up on logo design with printing in mind, then look back at how they present themselves online or in real life. When you are competing against bigger competitors with more resources, a simple, relatively small investment like a clean and clear logo and web presence might be just the leverage needed to make the sale.



Rabbit Design Philosophy and Examples: http://www.r4bb1t.com/p/design.html
Simple Small Business Website Package: http://www.r4bb1t.com/p/website-design.html