Business owners, such as yourself, have already realized the unlimited potential of the internet when it comes to online shopping. But did you also know that it provides ample opportunities to boost sales for your brand? How can you do that, you ask? By using one of its many platforms to generate brand exposure. We are talking specifically about blogging here, but it isn’t the only useful platform.
Now, back to how you can use your blog to boost sales. What are you supposed to do with it? Start by keeping it current and posting regularly. If your readers hear crickets when they land on your blog by mistake, you will begin losing them by the dozen.
This is what you need to know to improve your business via blogging:
1. Know What The Market Does
For market research, you won’t even have to go that far. After all, the online market is accessible from anywhere. Ask an online marketer, and they will tell you each of their customers used to be just a visitor who found their website. But why were they looking for the site anyway? Well, HubSpot has your answer because close to 80% of internet users start doing their research online.
So, your potential customers are using search engines to look for products like yours. Do you see the connection between making your blogs a resource for them and not your competitors?
You can even utilize them to do your market research. Start by putting up polls that will tell you more about your customers and who they are. In those polls, ask them how they like certain products. With the information they exchange, you can also figure out their demographics!
When you have a handle on this, you may even use your blogs to receive open-ended feedback from potential customers. Invite them to leave comments and thoughts about your products.
2. Know What Your Customers Want
Sure, you may have been keeping blogging on the backburner. But do you realize what you have been missing by doing so? HubSpot’s blogging data from 13,000+ customers shows that companies that bothered publishing 16+ blogs each month increased their traffic by almost 3.5X as compared to the ones that just put up 0 – 4 posts.
Just as you research a product before making a purchase, so do your customers. They use the search engines, and the results influence their buying decision. If you can put up informative blogs that highlight your products, you will not only be engaging them. You could even influence factors, like where they shop, which product they choose, etc.
Consider the following blogging strategies specific to the type of business:
- For clothing boutiques, predicting styles and giving seasonal outfit tips can boost business.
- Home contractors may post pictures about the projects they have completed successfully. Base the blogs around the before and after pictures and throw in some home improvement tips.
3. Know How To Wield SEO And Inspire Action
When promoting your business through blogging, some companies recommend keeping the SEO best practices in mind. With SEO working for you behind the scenes, your blogs will become tools that work round-the-clock. You will be nurturing customers and bringing in leads. But make it certain by ending each blog post with a CTA. Inspire the traffic headed your way to take some kind of action. What that can be will depend on the business you run. You could ask your readers to give you a call for a consult, direct them to another related piece of content, or fill out a form for quotes.
Here’s an example from the legal industry. According to National Law Review about 96% of people who need information on a case will use search engines to find it. Before they even visit your law offices, they will go online and look up some answers to the specific kind of legal services they need. Since many legally-motivated situations are time-sensitive, there is a considerable chance that as soon as potential clients find the information, they will move forward. That is great news for you if you are a part of the legal industry.
Put up blog posts that have been optimized to attract people for advice in areas you specialize in. Those looking for such tips will head your way on finding them!
[See related post: 10 Crucial SEO Elements To Improve For A Better Ranking]
4. Know Which Topics Your Audience Will Find Helpful
Building upon the previous point, let’s say that you were able to upload a few blogs. But if you have taken our advice and have been blogging consistently, you could be running out of topics. So, when you begin to think, what do I blog about, revisit the feedback you asked for before. You will notice a few common points in most threads. These are the questions that your customers – and potentials — frequently ask. When writing the next set of blog posts, acknowledge those questions about your business and answer them.
For example, hospitality companies may regularly receive queries about the best restaurants in town. You have been directing individual customers. But why not use this perfect opportunity and base a blog on it? Write about the best local restaurants and extend the series of posts based on pricing, variety of dishes, cuisines, etc.
Finally, it is great to use natural keywords, but don’t stop there. Blogging is excellent for SEO.
Do some keyword research with tools like Moz, SEMrush or Soovle. Use the keywords that are guaranteed to get results in your blog posts.
5. Know How To Be In Demand
An easy way to create demand through blogging is by increasingly attracting social media shares and links. You can increase your business’s sales by adding social media buttons to your blogs.
When, for instance, a reader finds your blog posts interesting or useful, they may want to share it with their social circle. A well-placed button will make it infinitely easier for them to do so. Shares will increase the direct traffic to your blog. You may be able to convert a portion of those readers into customers. A higher number of shares will also improve your rankings in search engine directories.
You may be starting to see why we say that you can boost sales for your business via blogging. Remember, these are only some benefits of blogging. We say just keep doing it!
[Images – Main: Free photo 86185230 © creativecommonsstockphotos – Dreamstime.com; Shopping bag, Pexels Free to use CC0]
Alma Causey is a Freelance writer by day and sports fan by night. She writes about tech education and health related issues. Live simply, give generously, watch football and a technology lover. She is currently associated with Growthproton.