Blogging is essential for every business today because it’s a lifeline to your audience.
It’s one of the only platforms you can use to connect with any group, such as potential customers and influencers, without limitations. Whether your business is a tech startup, restaurant, flower shop, or huge corporation, blogging can help boost your credibility with your audience.
A key aim of any blog is writing incredible content that will move your audience to engage with your business. According to Nielsen Social 6.7 million people publish blogs on blogging websites, and another 12 million write blogs using their social networks.
Here are ten good reasons why you need a blog for your business:
1. Simple Set-Up, Big Return
Blogs help amplify your business, and they’re super simple to set up!
You have so many free blogging platforms right at your fingertips. There’s WordPress.com, Squarespace, Wix and many more.
Wix is fantastic if you want to be able just to drag and drop various segments, headers or other pieces of content onto the site page. Best of all, no coding experience necessary!
The most comprehensive blogging platform available is WordPress. The user interface is much simpler to use than it used to be and there is a free version available. There are also paid versions with unlimited customization capabilities.
Moreover, Including WordPress, there are other emerging and effective blogging CMS tools like HubSpot that helps you create and publish engaging content. Like, if you put your shoes into HubSpot, you can install easy and attractive Hubspot blog templates both for free and paid. It will make your blogging task effortless and will help you to attract visitors through your informative and good quality content.
Other sites like Medium give you the chance to focus more on your writing and less on creating the perfect aesthetic for your blog, by providing pre-designed templates. While publishing on a platform like Medium is not ideal if you want to drive traffic to your website, it can still be a great place to build thought leadership.
2. Boost Your Writing Skills To Attract More Customers
Daily writing is one of the best tools you can use to improve your communication skills. The more confident you are with writing, the clearer and more compelling your content will be and the more customers you will be able to attract because of your stellar content.
Taking a structured approach to blogging by laying out your ideas in advance will help you develop a plan for the topics you should cover. It’s best to create a content calendar to keep your blog posts organized and consistent.
There are a plethora of useful copywriting tools you can use if copy editing isn’t your strong suit. Copyblogger and Grammarly are two favorites.
According to Hubspot, companies that publish 16 or more blog posts per month got almost 3,5 times more traffic than companies that publish 0-4 monthly posts.
So, if you have the budget and a lot of relevant things to say, blog often!
3. Strengthen Your Connection With Your Customers
Attracting someone to your business is easier if you can form a relationship with them first. Why should someone choose your business over one of your competitors? People are more likely to visit your business if they feel compelled to engage with your brand and learn more about how you can help them.
Write about topics that resonate with your customers. Begin by defining the personas of your audience and tailor your content to meet their needs.
Remember, people are more likely to share content they connect with on a personal level. So, understanding your target audience with help your content get to more people.
4. Build Your Brand’s Personality
Your website contains snippets of information about your company such as product descriptions, company bios, and contact information. Your audience can get an understanding of your business and what you offer by going to your website. But, they don’t get a feel for what you stand for or what your company culture is like.
Blogging can be the platform for which you can let the voice of your brand shine through, which will help build connections and trust with your audience.
Pro Tip: One way to build your brand’s personality is to focus on your writing style. Your company blog is a platform to be more personal as opposed to formal. It’s an opportunity to bridge the gap between you and your customer.
5. Keep Your Business Fresh And Relevant
By continually keeping track of any related news or updates in your industry, you can write blog posts relevant to your readers. However, if you want to build your organic traffic (which you do), make sure your articles are evergreen.
Pro Tip: Set a keyword tracker on platforms like Feedly and Flipboard each morning to scan through the latest headlines and use an RSS reader to follow your favorite publications.
6. Create Multiple Touch Points For Your Customer Using SEO
Always make sure your blog is optimized for SEO to boost your presence on Google.
Keep an eye on your SEO and related keywords to help inspire ideas for your content which will help get your content in front of your target audience.
Boost your SEO by updating meta descriptions and keywords, to make it easier for Google to crawl your site to list your pages in their search results. The more you rank for, the easier it’ll be for someone to find your website.
Pro Tip: Use Google’s Keyword Planner to get an idea of what your customers are searching for and which words you should integrate into your blog posts.
[See related post: Understanding The Basics Of The SEO Process]
7. Gain Insight Into Customers By Using Analytics
Analytics can be used to look at the results to guide your work and gain insight into your consumers.
Google Analytics is a comprehensive web application that will answer questions such as:
- What posts are visitors to your blog reading?
- Are there more views on a particular type of topic?
- When you include a video, are these articles shared more often?
Keep checking through your analytics to see if there have been any improvements since you started blogging and why this is. Using data can help refine your content strategy along the way.
8. Amplify Your Brand’s Reach
If someone enjoys one of your posts and shares it online, it will instantly boost your brand’s online reach.
Blogs are a platform to communicate your business’ messages and extend your reach from customers to leads. The more engaging your content is the more potential it has to be passed along from person to person across social communities like Reddit, Medium or StumbleUpon.
Some 15% of internet users read or comment on discussion forums such as Reddit, Digg, or Slashdot, while 10% use the blogging website Tumblr.
You can extend your reach even further by submitting your blog to some of these RSS blog directories. Amplify the blog posts you create by scheduling automated updates for a few months after your post’s release date to give your content more reach.
9. Free PR
What if I said you could have your content published in the media and drive customers to your business, all for free!
Imagine if a journalist saw one of your blog posts online, and then, featured your company in their magazine? All you did was publish the article on your blog, scheduled a few social media posts, and sent an email blast to your subscribers. It’s minimal effort, and unless you’ve paid for a social ad – it’s either free, or very cheap.
Don’t wait for the media to come to you, go to them.
Start by making a list of publications you want to be featured in. Who’s the editor for the sections relevant to you? Do they write about topics relevant to your audience? Is there a good opportunity to collaborate?
Make a list of their contact details and social media accounts, including past articles they’ve written that relate to your brand. Reach out with a proposal for how you’d like to work with them.
10. Stand Out From Competitors By Strengthening Your Brand’s Authority
Use your content as a tool to interact with individuals or brands with high authoritative influence in your community. Social media is your friend when it comes to sharing content and engaging with your audience. Remember to create a schedule for your social posts, and engage with your followers! People want to do business with a brand they can trust, and engaging with your audience directly through social channels goes a long way.
The world of blogging and content marketing is broad and constantly growing. Continue to explore and find a way to create content which is personal to yourself. The benefits you’ll see are unprecedented, and you won’t regret it.
[Images – Main image by Igor Link from Pixabay; Scientist: Pixabay, PublicDomainPictures]; other images from their respective websites and/or social platforms]
Elizabeth is a freelance writer and editor who is passionate about communicating ideas to improve readers’ lives. She has a background in marketing and public relations but has experience writing for many sectors including the financial, tech, culinary, environmental and sports industries.