I have several clients right now who are in the process of overhauling their web sites. At the time they are looking to start a blog. It is an excellent time to start a small business blog when you are in the process of redoing your web site.
Done well, a blog should seamlessly integrate into the look and feel of your main site. Ideally, one of your tabs on your site should say “Blog” and clicking there will lead visitors to your blog, but visually it will appear that they are still on your main site. All the header information and links should be there just like they are on all your other web site pages.
If you have followed my getting started tips then you should have Wordpress loaded into a folder called Blog on your main site. Say, your main site is www.abcwidgets.com then your blog should have an address of www.abcwidgets.com/blog. This way you will be getting the SEO benefits to your entire site for all the content you create on your blog.
So how do you get your blog integrated so tightly into your main site? First, you need to work with a web designer who understands Wordpress and how to customize it. Wordpress is becoming so popular now that most designers know it and can work with it easily. If you are starting from scratch and don’t have a designer, I recommend looking for freelance designers on elance.com. Post a project on there and you will get dozens of web designers from all around the world eager to create a great looking site for you. The header for this blog was created by someone I found on Elance.
Even if you are not in the process of overhauling your web site, you can still easily integrate your blog. There are so many great designers now who also understand web programming, that there is no excuse to have a blog that looks different to your main site. Online looks are important. Your visitors are just a click away from leaving your site. Keeping a consistent look and feel throughout your entire site will give your visitors every reason to stick around and explore.
Illustration courtesy of dusan.writer
