Great question, we thought you’d never ask! Blogging is the internet’s oldest marketing tactic that just won’t quit. With all the emphasis lately on social media, videos, and email marketing it’s easy to overlook blogging and not keep up with it, but we’re here to tell you: Don’t stop!
The ultimate goal when creating blogs is to drive as much traffic as possible to your website. When you create a blog post this makes yet another indexed page on your website, giving your site one more opportunity for you to show up in search engines and encourage people to visit, learn more about you, and showcase your expertise.
Picking up what we’re throwing down? Sweet. Now let’s chat about some of the specific reasons why you should add blogging to your marketing toolkit.
Blogging to build brand and attract an audience
Blogs are where your business personality can really come out and increases the likeability of your brand. Use your blog to build a relationship with your customers and keep them interested in what you’re doing by offering content like how-tos, helpful tips, and company news that will give them a look into who you (your company) is and your culture.
Want more eyes on your site? Who doesn’t! With blogging, some of your traffic will come from existing customers of course, but a blog is a great way to gain new customers as well. When someone enters a query in Google about a topic that you have written about and they find your post you’ve earned yourself a reader that might never have heard of you otherwise, and that’s a serious win. The trick to having your content found through search is the right mix of time + knowing what keywords to write about and how to build those into your existing content pillars.
Blogging to establish credibility
People trust blogs. So it’s no wonder that blogs have been rated as the 5th most trustworthy source for gathering online information. A well-written and insightful blog that addresses relevant topics in your industry not only shows your readers that you’re the expert in the field, but that you want to help solve their problems using your knowledge about the industry.
If prospects find answers to their questions through blog posts written by people at your company, they’re more likely to continue through your sales cycle. And, even better, if you can help customers know the questions they need answers to before they even know they need them, you’ll gain that much more credibility. They’ll trust what you have to say in the future because you’ve helped them in the past– like even before they were interested in purchasing.
Blogging to boost traffic and leads
As we already mentioned, blogging is a great way to boost traffic on your site organically but did you know that B2B companies that publish blogs regularly receive 67% more leads than those that don’t? Once you’ve engaged a reader/potential customer with your super-awesome blog post you’ve added value to their journey. You can then get them to provide their contact information to sign up for notifications or your email newsletter and move them further down the sales funnel.
All in all, a blog benefits your business by creating more opportunities for you to present offers and generate leads. And not just any leads, qualified leads that are already interested in what you’re doing and how you’re talking about it.
Blogging to improve your SEO
We hit on this one a bit but it’s powerful and worth its own explanation. So, if you needed just one more reason to start a business blog here it is. Blogging helps increase your search engine rankings. Creating regular content informs search engines, like Google, that your website is actively updated and should be checked frequently to see what’s new.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a long term process that consists of a few different criteria. No, just having a blog won’t get you on the first page of Google immediately, however, it will significantly enhance your rankings in the long run. This all happens because search engines reward you for producing fresh content, using relevant keywords, and answering the questions that people are searching for. When you blog you’re creating the opportunity to do all three of these and search engines just eat it up.
Whether you’re just kicking around the idea of blogging or you’ve been doing it for a while and not seeing the results, don’t throw in the towel! Blogging is a daunting task but once you get into the rhythm, it’s not as daunting as it may seem. And keep in mind, it’s something you do for sustainability and longevity. Nobody sees overnight results with their blog, we promise. Meet your customer where they’re at in their journey and guide them to the solution they’re needing. Now’s the time, so get to writing!