Spoiler alert: It is not an AI-powered SEO hack
We’re pretty proud of the 236 blog posts we have published over the past seven years. In fact, the number of posts came as a bit of a surprise when we wrote this post (number 236 in the series).
It takes quite a lot of work when you want to publish something meaningful several times a month. And for us, the blog has never been an SEO play powered by the latest AI trend to get Lolle & Nielsen to rank for the right keywords. It has been a desire to demystify inventing, inviting the curious in, where they can get news and knowledge from our world in big and small ways.
We do not have a clear answer as to whether this has actually led to new customers and, thus, a direct financial return on investment. However, we’re not going to stop sharing posts anytime soon because, over the years, the effort has proven to make a lot of sense for us on several levels.
Showcasing what we do in a meaningful way
In the best case, we make one major update to the website every year. Except for the blog, which gets several new posts every month.
In other words, it’s the main place where we are vocal about our activities on a continuous basis. It’s our way of showing that we are alive and constantly have exciting projects going on with great partners.
This doesn’t mean our new post will get thousands of likes on Linkedin before a hungry crowd shuts down our servers to read it. But because we share more than just sales copy for our products, we still have a relatively large and loyal readership (maybe even you reading right now?). They may not read along every time, but those who follow our posts we have an even closer and deeper relationship with – and without the blog, they would have no reason to check in as frequently.
We can actually feel and hear that people are following us. Maybe they’ve just seen a gif or picture on social media, but it sets something in motion. In fact, it happens relatively often. Admittedly, they are mainly in our close network, but they are also the ones we most often touch base with and the ones we want to follow our projects.
Publishing has helped us have a continuous story all along the way. It’s never been a question of ranking highest on Google. The important thing is that when someone visits our site, they have the opportunity to take a deep and intimate look at Lolle & Nielsen. If you are interested in our world, we believe this is a good way to build trust.
Reflection and pride
From a marketing perspective, we honestly don’t know if the effort pays for itself in monetary terms. But we think it does—especially if you take the long view. Even if that’s not the case, the blog also has value internally.
It forces us to reflect on our processes continuously – and to reflect on whether we are communicating things in the right way.
It also means something to the team that we take the time to tell the good stories from our own ranks. Even if it doesn’t always happen with great fanfare, it’s always great to be able to showcase a new project that you’re proud of publicly.
