If you run a business, you should know by now how vital it is to run a blog post simultaneously. Over the years, it has become increasingly important for small businesses to develop a strong web presence to engage and communicate with their customers. While social media is one way of achieving this, it still doesn’t fill the void entirely. Companies need to write about their fields of expertise frequently and in detail in efforts to become thought leaders in those fields. According to a recent inbound marketing report, nearly 80% of companies that use blogging as a part of their marketing strategy reported acquiring customers through their blogging efforts. Additionally, 82% of businesses admit that blogging is critical to their business. The following are some reasons why business blogging works:
1) It helps drive traffic to your website:
Every time you write a blog post, one more indexed page is added on to your website, which means it’s one more opportunity for you to show up in search engines and drive traffic to your website in organic search. We’ll get into more of the benefits of blogging on your SEO a bit later, but it’s also one more cue to Google and other search engines that your website is active and they should be checking in frequently to see what new content to surface. Blogging also helps you get discovered via social media. Every time you write a blog post, you’re creating content that people can share on social networks like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest which helps expose your business to a new audience that may not know you yet.
2) It helps convert that traffic into leads
Now that you have traffic coming to your website through your blog, you have opportunities to convert that traffic into leads. Just like every blog post you write is another indexed page, each post is a new opportunity to generate new leads. The way this works is really simple: Just add a lead-generating call-to-action to every blog post. Often, these calls-to-action lead to things like free ebooks, free whitepapers, free fact sheets, free webinars, free trials … basically, any content asset for which someone would be willing to exchange their information. Another underestimated way to generate leads is through hyperlinks. Have hyperlinks throughout your blog post and readers may be moved towards being directed to wherever those hyperlinks lead to.
3) Exceptional boost to search engine optimization (SEO)
All of the major search engines are love fresh, relevant content and blogging is one of the most straightforward and inexpensive methods for a business to create this. When a business creates blog posts consistently, they are constantly providing Google, Bing, Yahoo and the others with fresh content to index. This is also an opportunity for businesses to insert those relevant keywords that consumers will use to search for the types of services or products that the business offers. With each blog post, you’re inviting search engine crawlers to come to your page and having an option for them to make their search engines lead internet users to your page as a top ranking result.
4) It helps establish authority
The best business blogs answer common questions that their leads and customers have. If you’re consistently creating content which is helpful for your target customer, it’ll help establish you as an authority in their eyes. This is a particularly handy tool for Sales and Service professionals. Can you imagine the impact of sending an educational blog post you wrote to clear things up for a confused customer? Or how many more deals a salesperson could close if their leads discovered blog content written by their salesperson?
5) Connect people to your brand
Brand awareness is an immensely important element of marketing and blog posting will allow you to show your followers a personal side of your business. You can open up your brand message and engage existing and perspective customers in a way not possible through outbound marketing mechanisms and techniques. Blogging will give others a lucid sense of the corporate standards, business character, vision and the personality of your company.
Conclusion:
If you are interested in increasing your online exposure, while establishing yourself as an expert in your industry, then you will definitely want to take advantage of blogging as a marketing strategy. When it comes to small businesses, blogging is virtually a must. If you don’t have the time, resources, or expertise to write blog content you can outsource the posts to a digital marketing agency like CrayonPanda who can craft unique, relevant and engaging content for your blog site.