Businesses are told to create a blog on their main site. Blogs are created and nurtured to bring a business traffic, but a lot of professionals are choosing another option: creating a separate blog. And while this may be a lot of work, it’s also a great way to generate leads.
Why?
There’s a disassociation with a professional service and information. A lot of clients will go to a lawyers site and call them based on:
- Reviews
- Reputation
- Location
- Awards
- Referrals
But this is a person that already knows that they need a professional’s help. A lot of potential leads are not that far into the buyer’s cycle. Instead, these potential leads are searching for information online to help them “connect the dots.”
Perhaps a person doesn’t know if they need a plumber, so they’ll try watching YouTube videos and read articles on fixing a clog.
Separate Blogs Can Be Edgy
Professionals are often afraid of being unprofessional and edgy. But you can create a separate blog, on a new domain, that allows you to tackle difficult topics, generate leads and keep any “unprofessional” posts apart from your main business.
Let’s take a look at the Ankin Law Office LLC.
This blog has a few call-to-actions for potential leads to follow, including:
- Phone number
- Case review
- Law office location
But the posts are edgy and different than what’s on most legal blogs. One post talks about doctors being on big pharma’s payroll – a topic many lawyers won’t cover.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t have a blog on your main site – it’s also good practice.
The idea is to have both, when you’re able to maintain them properly. One can be professional in tone and style, while the other can be more personal and relatable.
Varying Marketing Efforts
Professional websites often err on the side of caution with their marketing efforts. Professionals cannot afford to use marketing techniques that may lead to penalties from Google and potential lost leads.
A separate blog can be used to try ranking different keywords, use different SEO techniques and try marketing that is still new.
The separate blog’s rankings will not impact your professional blog, so these separate blogs are often used for testing new marketing methods. It’s a great way to keep your business site from dropping in the rankings while trying out a new approach to search engine optimization.
Increased Online Real Estate
It’s better to have two, well-performing “assets,” or blogs than it is to have one. When you create a separate blog, you can focus on a separate demographic or potential type of client. You can even choose different personas based on their point in the buying cycle to promote to online.
It’s an opportunity to try luring in more commercial clients rather than residential clients, or vice versa.
You can rank different keywords, choose to promote to a different niche or try luring in those higher paying clients that will reduce your workload while increasing your overall profits.
When you have enough resources to operate two separate blogs, it opens up the opportunity to expand on the way you attract leads and the types of leads generated.
