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As any solopreneur knows, there are a million little things to do in a day–which is why content marketing is often pushed to the back burner. You’d rather get on a sales call or prospect a cold lead than write online. But here’s the thing: your small business needs a blog. No matter what industry you’re in or how new you are, a business blog can help you reach your target market and convert readers into customers. Don’t believe me? In this episode, I’ll explain in detail the five benefits of blogging for business.
Table of Contents
Blogging for Small Businesses: Worth it?
If you’re one of the few businesses still not blogging you most likely still think blogging is for online diaries as they were back in the 1990s. But that’s certainly not the case anymore. For the last two decades businesses have been using blogging as a marketing tool and today it’s one of the most effective tools to engage and influence people on the web today.
Over 10% of the US population runs a blog. So no blogging is not dead.
And while social media and email marketing work to develop leads, you cannot ignore blogging and in this episode, I’m going to share 5 concrete reasons why.
And before you even throw out the excuses – NO you don’t have to be a good writer, YES you do have the time, and YES it will deliver your business results.
What is business blogging and why it’s important
Blogging is the process of sharing your thoughts, ideas, and experiences online in the form of a written article. You can think of it as a modern-day diary or journal that’s open to the public.
- Blogging can be a great way to connect with other people online, share your passions, and build your brand.
- But more than that, blogs are a great way to generate more business leads.
- They also help improve your authority and give value to potential customers.
- Plus, they can help improve your SEO ranking.
In fact, a recent study showed that businesses who blog have 434% more website visitors than those who don’t. And those visitors are more likely to become customers.
So if you’re not blogging, you’re missing out on a lot of potential leads and sales.
As Neil Shaffer writes, “Blogs are increasing in popularity with businesses, with nearly 6 million blog posts being published every day. It’s no wonder why it’s a growing publishing medium because blogging is increasingly critical to marketing success and allows your brand to connect with its potential customers.” SOURCE
Here are 5 Reasons Your Business Needs A Blog:
Blogging is a powerful marketing tool that can help you reach more customers and grow your business. After reading these benefits you’ll stop asking yourself ”Should my business have a blog?” because you’ll know for certain the answer is an astounding YES!
1. Boost your SEO efforts with fresh, new content.
Search engines love fresh, relevant content. By regularly publishing new blog posts, you’ll give them the signal that your site is active and worth ranking. This will help you climb the search engine results pages and get more visibility for your business.
Online searches, which Google continues to dominate, are one of the main ways people find their way to your blogs. In fact, there are 100 billion searches every month on Google alone.
That’s 100 Billion keywords entered into that Google search bar monthly, and your business niche is one of them.
By having an optimized blog written with the correct keywords, your article could be one that these users click on.
How to optimize your blog with SEO
But keep in mind that 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results, according to Search Engine Journal. This makes it extremely important to invest in SEO. If you miss out on top rank in search results, you won’t even get discovered by 3 out of 4 users. SOURCE
That’s why search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for every brand and business that operates online and offline today.
It doesn’t matter if you are a solopreneur, brick and mortar, or large corporation; your company needs SEO for your site to be findable on search engines.
Lifespan of Blogs
One thing I love about blogs is that your content is out on the web forever. It’s the longest-living content channel there is.
A helpful metric to pay attention to is the platform’s half-life. Since content can live forever on a platform, the lifespan is the amount of time it takes for a post to receive HALF of its total engagements. Hence, its’ half-life. ???? As you can see from the chart, the half-life lifespan of posts varies by platform.
Every time you publish a blog article, this means that Google can index it for consumers to find a month, year, or even decade later. This exposure allows you to reach a much larger global audience than if you only keep your content on a social media profile.
Websites with a blog tend to have 434% more indexed pages.
Web tribunal writes that “For effective SEO, you need to have enough relevant content that search engines can crawl through and index. A blog is extremely useful in letting search engines identify your website as a useful resource that users should be led to for information.” SOURCE
In short, the more pages you have on your site, the better your chances of getting found in search engines such as Google, Microsoft Bing, and DuckDuckGo.
2. Capture high-quality automated Leads.
Businesses that blog have 126% higher lead growth than those that don’t. The reason this lead generation growth exists is simple. Blogs allow you to offer a strategic opt-in form for a newsletter or lead magnet when the reader lands on your blog and enjoys consuming your material.
As Hubspot notes, “Other factors such as a clean landing page, strong keywords, and active presence on social media sites collectively contribute to leads attraction–just remember that blogging will be an indispensable element in a successful online marketing strategy.” SOURCE
Of course, superior lead generation results partly from the fact that blog content is available to access anytime.
And with 77% of internet users reading blogs regularly (at least 1x a month), this makes blog reading one of the most popular online activities. SOURCE
3. A blog gives you a voice.
When you can connect with customers and clients on a personal deeper level it will build more trust and credibility with your readers.
When you blog regularly, you establish yourself as an expert in your industry. And when you provide valuable information to readers, they’re more likely to trust you and do business with you.
In fact, 61% of U.S. online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from a blog. (Source: BlogHer)
If you’re wondering how might a small business like yours use a blog here are three ideas.
3 business blogging ideas and examples
- You immediately build credibility when your business can use a blog to answer questions and possible objections from current and potential customers. So next time you’re on a client call and you’re fielding questions, realize those common questions are the perfect topics for your blog. You just need a few minutes between tasks to write them down and turn them into consumable articles.
- Another way to use your blog for business is to share customer success stories and touch upon the pain points of your target audience. Doing so only intensifies this reader connection.
- Lastly, if you’re a solopreneur with a portfolio of products or services, a blog is a great way to show off your work to attract new clients.
However you use your blog, it can quickly establish you as an expert in your field: If you consistently write informative and insightful blog posts, people will start to see you as a thought leader in your industry. These business blogging ideas can help you win new clients and customers and grow your business.
If you reply that you “don’t have time” to blog, it simply means that you don’t understand the value of using some of your time to invest in one. But that’s ok, you’ll change your tune after hearing about this next benefit.
4. Increase website traffic.
One of the main reasons businesses start blogging is to increase website traffic to market their products and services and increase sales. And it works!
Blogging leads to 55% more website visitors through increased organic search traffic and blog promotion.
And more visitors means more people converting to leads and sales.
Every time you write a new blog post, you create another opportunity for people to find your website.
A blog can drive traffic to your website in several ways when optimized for SEO, including by:
- ranking higher in search engine results pages,
- attracting backlinks,
- and prompting social media shares.
And when people visit your website, there’s a good chance they’ll buy something from you or at least land on your email list before they leave.
In fact, businesses that blog get 97% more links to their website. This is when other people link your website in blogs, social feeds, online forums, and more. That’s because your content can help others and people LOVE sharing that type of content with others!
Here’s a stat that will get you blogging.
When you Prioritize your blog, you increase your chance of making money off of it by 13x. That’s why 53% of marketers, including myself, say blogging is their top content marketing priority. (Source: Hubspot)
While blogs may not bring you that rush of instant gratification that thousands of views on your last Instagram Reel can, it still has ROI.
Between lead generation, brand awareness, SEO, and thought leadership, few areas of marketing do not benefit from blogging. (SOURCE)
As Duke Kimball of Super Web Pros points out, “In reality, the purpose of a blog is to provide value to customers, to give them a chance to get to know your company and to become a voice of authority in your field. A well-promoted blog does get leads and referrals, and the more pages your site has for Google’s bots to crawl on, the better your overall SEO strategy.
But it doesn’t happen overnight.
It takes time to build links to other worthwhile sites. It takes time to write enough quality content to make an impact. And it takes time to promote your content to drive more traffic. It may not be instant gratification, but like a workout regimen it will pay off in the long run if you continue to work at it.
Invest in a good blog, and invest in a good promotion strategy for that content. If it’s quality if it’s useful to your clients, and if it’s written smartly with SEO in mind, it will pay off dividends in the big picture.”
5. Stand out from the competition by providing valuable content.
If you want your business to succeed, you need to find ways to stand out from the competition.
You can build deeper relationships by writing blog posts that address your customers’ needs and pain points. This, in return, can lead to more sales and repeat business.
A blog gives you the platform to share your unique perspective on your industry and helps you share your story with customers. That can make you more appealing to potential buyers and help you stand out from the competition.
All you need is some basic grammar skills, access to spellcheck using a plugin like Grammarly, and be able to clearly communicate your insider knowledge to answer a common question or address a customer pain point.
To get the most out of your business blog, it’s essential to create interesting, informative, and on-brand content.
Here are 5 tips for creating valuable blog content:
1. Make sure your blog is interesting and informative. Don’t just write about yourself or your products. Give readers valuable information they can use even if they don’t purchase your offer. If readers know they can always count on you for helpful, informative content, they will likely continue doing business with you.
2. Write in a clear, concise, and easy-to-read style. No one wants to read a wall of text. Break up your content with paragraphs, bullet points, and images. A popular way to feed information to readers in bite-sized morsels is to use the listicle writing style as I did in this episode, 5 Reasons Your Business Needs A Blog.
3. Keep it on-brand. Your blog should reflect your company’s values and voice. Choose a consistent tone and style and ensure your branding is front and center.
4. Promote your blog. Get the word out about your new blog with social media, email marketing, and other marketing channels like Pinterest. Don’t only rely on organic search traffic; you need to share links every chance you can!
5. Update regularly. A successful blog is one that’s updated regularly with fresh content. The best-case scenario is to aim for at least 1-2 new posts per week, but I don’t suggest posting less than two articles a month.
Recap: Business Blogging
To recap, When it comes to business blogging, there are a lot of benefits to be had. In this article, we talked about 5 of the most important ones:
To recap, When it comes to business blogging, there are a lot of benefits to be had. In this episode, we talked about 5 of the most important ones:
1. Boost your SEO efforts with fresh, new content.
2. Capture high-quality automated Leads.
3. Gives you a voice to connect with customers on a deeper level.
4. Increase website traffic to get more eyes on your offers.
5. Stand out from the competition by providing valuable content.
These five reasons show just how beneficial a blog can be for businesses of all sizes.
As I mentioned, blogging is a no-brainer for any business looking to grow between lead generation, brand awareness, SEO, and thought leadership opportunities but I haven’t even touched on it’s benefits for streamlining your social media content.
When used strategically, your blog contains all the content you’ll ever need for all your social media campaign.
If you’re not already blogging, now is the time to start. And if you’re blogging inconsistently, now is the time to start.
How to get started with a business blog
And we understand that the idea of starting a blog can seem overwhelming. So if you need help getting started with blogging, consider working with CORE Brand Marketing Boutique to accelerate your website’s inbound marketing strategy. Go to corebrandmarketing.com to fill out an application.
We not only get your optimized blog up and on the web but we run extensive SEO research to set up your content strategy and help you write your articles (heck we can even write them for you!) and then promote them.
Once you see how beneficial it can be, you’ll be glad you decided to start.
You may also enjoy reading: Your Step By Step Guide To Building A Website
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