Blogging for gourmet and specialty food companies

So it seems that everyone these days has a blog, or has at least thought about setting up their own blog. However, for some reason, so many of the gourmet and specialty food companies I encounter DON”T have a blog, which really amazes me considering the many benefits of doing so. Blogging is nothing new, so I am not presenting some new novel marketing concept - rather just pointing out how easy it is to do, and some examples of how it can help a small gourmet food company.Let me start by saying that blogging doesn’t have to be expensive (for those of you who have never setup a blog before). In fact, it can be done absolutely free. There are some paid options, and also some ways to setup a really nice, custom, branded blog that you could spend some money on. Setting up a free blog is as easy as going to either Wordpress or Blogger and registering, which only takes a few minutes. Once created, you will get a domain like www.yourfoodcompany.wordpress.com, for example. Adding new posts is quite easy; if you’ve used Microsoft Word, you will be just fine - no HTML experience is necessary.

The downside to having a free blog at a site like Wordpress or Blogger is that it is hosted at their site, not on yours. Although the links from a free blog to your website are helpful, it is not adding any depth and content to your site, which is a disadvantage from an SEO standpoint (more content on your website is advantageous). Also, the free blogs are a bit limited as far as customization is concerned, so you may end up with something that doesn’t really reflect your brand image (and the blog’s URL will have either Wordpress or Bloggers domain in it, not yours).

As an alternative, I suggest hosting a blog on your own site (like I have done). This way, all of the content you create on your blog will help build content and depth on your site, and the additional links will be helpful as well (remember to use keyword-rich anchor text of course). If you did it this way, you would tell people to go (or link) to www.yourfoodcompany.com/blog or www.blog.yourfoodcompany.com instead of www.yourfoodcompany.wordpress.com. Additionally, when you host the blog software on your own site, you typically get much greater control over the look-and-feel of your blog. This way, your blog could have the same branded look that your website does (or very similar) instead of a generic looking blog template. The only downside to this option (having the blog on your site) is that it requires some website development experience (FTP, HTML, CSS, PHP). Don’t be discouraged though - it’s not too much for an experienced web developer or marketing firm (like us), and won’t break the bank to do it. For the small investment, I’d say it’s well worth it. (Contact me if you’d like us to help you do this).

Why are blogs important? Blogs give you the opportunity to talk about your products, new product launches, your business experiences, opinions, and really anything you feel like writing about. Among other benefits, blogging can also allow you to connect and develop relationships with your customers (and potential customers). I find blogs to be entertaining as well as educational, and commonly read the blogs of companies whose products/services I use. People like to connect on a personal level with companies, and the food industry is a great example due to the emotional nature of buying and consuming food products.

Now here is where blogging gets really good. The biggest advantage to business blogging is the online exposure and traffic. By creating regular blog posts, you are adding additional, keyword rich (and relevant) content to your website that will be indexed by the major search engines, Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Over time, it is hoped that your website will keep ranking better on those natural keyword searches such as ‘gourmet olive oil’. Obviously, this is going to help increase your web traffic, and hopefully sales too.

In addition to the added search engine optimization benefits, having a blog is a great way to keep customers coming back to your website for updates, new products, specials, etc. You can setup an opt-in email signup form, or an RSS feed subscription (which automatically notifies them when you write something new) to keep them up to date with your new posts. Most blog programs come with built in RSS capabilities, which is very useful! (Have questions about RSS? Let me know)

If you are interested in setting up a blog on your website, let me know and I’d be glad to provide more information on what exactly it takes, and how to really make blogging successful for your business.

Thanks for reading!