Blogging is an essential part of the content marketer’s toolkit, and most savvy businesses have developed comprehensive marketing plans that feature a robust digital marketing strategy including a blog. Here are 12 reasons why blogging is important for your business in 2020 and beyond.
Great blogs are SEO savvy, which means they are written so that Google’s AI will identify them and show them in search engine results pages (the SERPs). The higher your website shows up in the SERPs, the better chance you have at getting people to visit your site. Blogs should engage your reader, entice them to keep reading, and inspire them to buy into whatever it is you are producing or providing. This means they should be well-written and flow naturally.
In the past, it was enough to strategically add keywords in as many places as possible to have your site show up in the SERPs. Now, Google’s AI has grown so sophisticated that it requires a more balanced, well-thought-out approach. Instead of keyword stuffing, blogs should utilize longtail keywords and latent semantic indexing along with high-quality writing to ensure it is optimized for search engines. Additionally, it needs to be strategically written to answer the question your consumer may be asking in a way they might search for it online. It needs to be written to meet the needs of your target audience.
2. Blogs establish your authority.
More often than not, people conduct research before making a purchase or buying into a service. The average consumer wants to know that you know what you’re doing and that your product or service is trustworthy. Blogs can help you build that trust, help your consumer understand exactly what they’re getting, and lead them to understand why you provide the best option for their needs.
A blog gives you an opportunity to showcase your knowledge and expertise on every aspect of your business, establishing your authority and solidifying your reputation as a leader in your industry. The options are limitless when it comes to blogs. You can write about every aspect of your industry providing your readers with all of the information they need to make an informed decision.
If you’ve ever wanted to explain something to a consumer, or if you have a recurring question from clients, a blog provides the perfect opportunity to dive into the topic. If you are passionate about what you do, a blog provides you the opportunity to demonstrate your enthusiasm. Your target audience needs to believe that you know what you’re doing, that your product or service can be trusted, and it doesn’t hurt for them to know that you care. A well-written blog can guide a client through uncertainty to help them trust you and your product.
3. Blogs convert traffic into leads.
Blogs go above and beyond product descriptions. Blogs put people at ease and convince them, without pushing them, to buy your product. Because most people do research before buying, they also typically spend some time comparing businesses in the market. Your blog can help position you ahead of the competition.
People don’t want to be pushed or bullied into buying a product. People also don’t typically love arrogance, so blogs must be crafted using the art of subtle persuasion. The most persuasive tactic is to demonstrate your enthusiasm for the field and the product. This builds the enthusiasm of potential clients, generating greater interest in what you have to offer.
Blogging isn’t about deception or coercion, it’s about honesty. If you believe in your product or service, it will come out in the writing. Without effort, you can take someone from thinking maybe they don’t need your product to understanding exactly why they do. Blogging turns business leads into converts by helping them trust you, leading through the purchasing process, and helping them see the benefit on the other side of their purchase.
4. Blogs provide long-term results.
Content marketing looks vastly different than it has in the past. Mailouts and printed products haven’t completely gone by the wayside, but businesses are expanding their marketing in ways that save money and create a more lasting impression. Blogs live in perpetuity on the web unless you take measures to remove them.
Paper publications can easily get tossed, and they fade. Blogs can be written in such a way that they are evergreen. Though industries change, improve, or maybe technology shifts, there are aspects of every industry that will never change. Blogs that are written on these aspects, therefore, are relevant indefinitely. These evergreen pieces will drive traffic to your website for years to come so long as you maintain the domain.
This doesn’t mean that you can write a few blogs, park them indefinitely on your website, and expect them to always perform well in Google searches. Google’s AI looks for fresh content in its evaluation of source credibility. It’s necessary to update your blogs and provide fresh information and insight on the industry to keep your content fresh. Updating a blog doesn’t mean creating brand new content; updating may just mean re-write of existing content. Regardless, keeping it fresh matters for search engine optimization.
5. Blogs offer a multimedia representation of your company.
Blogs do not have to be overly complicated, but they can be extremely creative. Blogs can be as artistic or as professional as you want or need them to be for your product or service. Blogs offer the opportunity for visuals, for photographs, and even for videos to enhance your user’s experience.
Blogs do not have to be just writing. When available, visuals can enhance the understanding of the readers just like an in-person presentation. Everyone learns differently, so incorporating a variety of media in blog posts can be instrumental in guiding your reader.
Photographs can be inspiring tools when done well but use care when choosing what goes on your website. Ensure that you aren’t violating anyone’s privacy, make sure it’s a representation of your company that you don’t mind living on forever, and determine if it’s something you wouldn’t mind going viral for your business. Still, they can allow you to create the exact image you want your target audience to have of your business.
Videos have been shown to increase rankings in the SERPs and can be a useful tool for different topics on your blog. Creating a video no longer requires special equipment; most people can shoot them from a phone and still maintain a high level of quality. With the right app and a camera on a phone, you can take your business blog to the next level.
6. Blogs build community.
Depending on the industry and related topics, blogs can be a great platform to build community. Building community can benefit your business in big ways. Community generates long-term clients and brand loyalty, and community usually spreads, drawing others into the fold.
When people feel like they are a part of something bigger than them and important, they tend to stay. They value the collective when determining whether they are making the right business decision or not. There’s something special about being part of a group that keeps people together.
Community also creates brand loyalty. If your business offers more than one service or product, the community generated by one product or service will generate interest and support for other products or services offered by the same brand. Blogs that share are particularly helpful in this way, meaning they should incorporate pithy, quotable verbiage that can easily be shared on social media.
Community usually spreads. While we certainly live in the age of social media where shares are imperative, there is still no reason to devalue word-of-mouth marketing. People will be more drawn to a group instead of the individual; if a group of people is gathered around and supporting a product, other individuals will be more inclined to take a look as well.
7. Blogs add value.
Savvy businesses will look for ways to add value to the customer experience, and blogs offer an opportunity. Though they may not be as flashy as company swag, blogs can enhance and improve the experience your customer will have with your company and your product.
There is an emotional aspect to purchasing, and that emotional piece matters for attracting and keeping clients. When they feel you are going above and beyond to ensure their experience is pleasant. When a customer walks into a store, it’s good practice for an employee to ask how they can help and, when possible, assist them. In the absence of an online chat option to serve that purpose, blogs can help create the personal touch that may be missing in online transactions.
When people go online for purchasing, they may expect a somewhat impersonal transaction. You can upend that expectation with a well-written blog. Your customer gets to avoid the awkward human interaction and benefits from the personal touch your blog can add. It’s a win-win for the consumer who wants to feel pampered without feeling pestered by people.
8. Blogs help you generate contacts for other mass marketing.
Most blog platforms allow an opportunity for people to subscribe to receive blog updates. Businesses then take this information and use them to blast updates and specials to large groups at one time. Email blasts are an integral part of digital content marketing. The more people who receive your email blasts, the greater chance of creating new converts.
Blogs help people like and trust you, and if they like and trust you and are interested in your industry or product, they will want to add their contact information to receive your updates. It’s a professional courtesy to note that by subscribing to their content, they will receive other solicitations from your company. If they love what you do and like your content, they’ll want other email updates as well and will gladly add their name to your list.
One helpful way to utilize blogs to generate contacts and business leads is to speak directly to those who have subscribed to the blogs and offer special incentives to that group as you are able. Not only does this build community, but it builds leads.
9. Blogs build backlinks.
Once you’ve established yourself as an expert in the field, and your blog has helped solidify your reputation as an authoritative voice in your industry, word will spread. Backlinks are the internet’s version of networking.
If you attract enough attention, other people in your industry or even related industries will also begin to take notice. Given time and effort, they will begin to generate links to your content on their websites effectively growing your audience exponentially. It’s possible to generate relationships with other competitors or industry affiliates to generate these kinds of leads and backlinks, but they need to have something worthwhile to link to. When you add value to your clients through a blog, you create an opportunity to add value to their clients. Be careful, though. Backlinks also create a shared reputation.
One way to ensure that backlinks to your blogs are from reputable sources is to research your industry and create backlinks to reputable sources. Similar to iron sharpening iron, you can create respect among industry leaders by producing great content and linking to other great content. This will build not just your community of followers but also your community of industry leaders which can be a powerful asset in building your business.
10. Blogs can generate helpful feedback.
Most blogs can be created with tools that could help you generate critical feedback for your service or product. This can be helpful when trying to decide whether and how to launch a new product, ways to improve current services, and can help you know when a product has hit its mark.
You can use your blog to poll your followers or industry fellows to formally solicit input on specific products or services. Additionally, the comments section can be a useful tool for collecting feedback from your clientele. The most creative businesses find ways to understand what their clients want and how they want it, and blogs allow you to collect the necessary input to deliver.
Launching a new product or service can be a daunting venture. It requires significant effort and investment, and it can be easy to get bogged down in the details without seeing the big picture. Conducting a poll or soliciting formal input through a blog can help you step back and see the largest picture so that you can deliver exactly what your target client will want. Additionally, if a new product has launched, you can use your blog to both feature it as well as improve it through feedback from your readers. Finally, you can use your blog to ascertain how well your product is meeting your consumers’ needs.
People need to be heard, and that can be a challenge online. Blogs allow you to develop a conversation with your clients. It may require additional monitoring to ensure that the blog remains a professional space for client input, but the payoff will be worth it.
Final Thoughts on Blogging
The thought of blogging for your business may seem intimidating. The good news is that you don’t have to tackle it all at once. You don’t have to tackle it at all if you don’t want to. But you do need a blog, and the first step is finding a writer.
Don’t bite off more than you can chew. If you know you don’t have the writing chops to create and keep up a blog, then find someone on your staff who can or hire someone. Do your research on blogging to know what will make it more effective for you. If you can’t find it in yourself to write a blog, and you don’t have someone on staff who has the requisite skills, there are other options.
These days, some firms provide writers for your business blogs that know how to write with an eye towards Google’s SERPs. The writers they provide typically have a wide variety of industry experience, meaning you are more likely to find a writer that can speak authoritatively to your industry and clientele. Additionally, these firms typically deliver content that is ready to copy and post into your publication. The best will ensure that your voice is heard from start to finish so that the blog that is created will exactly suit your needs.
Business blogging is a crucial aspect of content marketing today. It can help you solidify your reputation as a leading voice in the industry, create a strong community of clients, and can ultimately turn curious searchers into converts. It’s worth your time, and it’s certainly worth your investment.
