By Lewis Waugh
News sections on businesses’ websites are becoming as important as traditional media outlets for getting across important messages and maintaining profile.
So why do so many companies not bother with them?
Research I recently completed for Deep South Media has shown that a huge number of organisations have no website news feed.
It was staggering to discover that so many businesses don’t take advantage of an up-to-date, reliable news section.
Do they not realise – or not care – that their reputations could be at stake if they are perceived as being behind the times?
Are you one of those people?
Your chances of maintaining a healthy position at the top of your industry sector tree and an edge over your competitors can be improved by simply having strong, search-engine-optimized articles on your website.
However, adding a news feed that’s not updated or poorly managed can also give off the wrong impression to visitors. It makes you appear lazy, unprofessional and out of touch.
A successful, well-managed news section with regularly updated content encourages visitors to engage with the brand and see the company as a reliable source of information.
By developing these relationships, that client or visitor is more likely to come back and visit the same page, and use services or buy products.
Ring fencing the resources to facilitate this is really a no brainer.
So many people use Google these days that ‘to Google’ has become a verb – and that’s why it is important to do everything possible to stay ahead of the game.
Well-written, accurate and consistent news articles with strong factual content score well with the Google algorithms that push your site high up the ladder – the Holy Grail being the first page of searching from keyword queries.
Originally, link analysis algorithms such as PageRank would monitor hit on hyperlinks, but the days of just stuffing stories with links to other sites are long gone.
Google demands so much more these days – and changes its search algorithm criteria a reported 600 times a year – so you have to stay ahead of the game to improve your reputation and raise awareness online?
So why aren’t more businesses running news sections?
Some may be unaware of the need, some may not have the time to keep one running effectively and some may still not see the benefits.
Deep South Media experts can help you with your company’s news feed – and there is software these days that automatically updates your website with the latest national news headlines and videos, if that is what you require.
News remains king, but it must be conveyed smartly.
