Modern days of marketing are witnessing exponential popularity of business blogs. However, you’d be shocked to know how many marketers still struggle with the dilemma of “to blog or not to blog”. The benefits of blogging for business are numerous but still many seem hesitant when taking the plunge. Perhaps they aren’t yet ready or are ignorant about the potential pros of blogging for business. Thoughtful blogging is one of the best ways to present your brand or business in a non-promotional and appealing manner.
If you are unsure whether to blog or not, get on a journey to understand why you must have a business blog today. But before that, let’s learn some interesting facts.
The Number Says it All…
It’s never too late to start a company blog. With 409 million people reading over 2.2 billion blog posts every month, it’s important to have impeccable writing skills, to create a difference. There are a vast number of people who need valuable information on diverse subjects and your blog may just be the right source to offer it.
53% of digital marketers report blogging as their top-most content marketing strategy. Between brand awareness, SEO and lead generation, there are only a handful of marketing areas that do not benefit from business blogging. Another study suggests that B2B companies are more likely to use blogs than B2C businesses, reporting 67% higher lead generation than those who do not.
Businesses that blog regularly, garner 97% more links to their websites, while 57% of them report gaining customers particularly through blogging. Check out the below infographic to understand why blogging is good for your business.
The purpose of blogging is to increase online visibility for your brand and business. It helps build authority and is a powerful means to interact and engage with your target audience. So if you haven’t yet leveraged the potential of blogging for your business, it’s high time to get into action and reap the profits.
Top 10 Reasons to Have a Business Blog
Need more reasons? Here are the top reasons that will compel you to have a company blog – and start enjoying the benefits.
#1: Purpose of Blogging is to Drive Traffic to Your Website
Raise your hands if you want to drive more traffic to your website. Yeah, all marketers do!
Now the question is – how?
You have an awesome website but just think how many pages it has to provide an all-around engaging experience to your audience? Probably not too many, right? Now think how many times you update your web pages? Probably not that frequently, right? So how can you draw customers to your website?
Blogging is the answer!
Each time you write a business blog post, it gives you an opportunity to show up in the search engines and lure traffic to your website through organic search. Posting blogs regularly on your company blog page, acts as a cue for the search engines that the website is active. Search engines regularly check out for new and relevant content. This is one of the primary website ranking parameters for them.
Not blogging on your website? Never mind! Having a complementary online space to showcase your brand or business is a great way to target new customers and redirect them to your website. If people like your blog post, they tend to show more interest in your business, products or services. They are also more likely to share the content on social media, making your blog post go viral.
So, one of the biggest benefits of blogging for business is that it helps drive website traffic.
#2: Boost Your Online Visibility
The key importance of blogging is to increase the online visibility of your brand or business. Websites that use blogging as a powerful SEO tool have an average of 400% higher indexed pages than others who do not. Such sites also garner 2x more indexed links than other websites. To put it simply, the more you blog, the higher is your chance to show up in the top SERPs. This helps increase your online visibility in a remarkable manner.
The image below will help you understand the key purpose of blogging for small businesses.
#3: Company Blog Can Help Convert Website Traffic into Leads
Did you know that companies that blog can help generate up to 70% more leads than others who do not blog? Yes, the study by HubSpot stated it right that businesses blogging at least once or twice in a month can significantly help convert website traffic into quality leads. The secret is to provide your prospects with excellent-quality and interesting content with a compelling Call-to-Action. This will encourage your readers to become business leads with high conversion potential.
Marketers who post regularly on business blogs are more likely to generate 4x higher leads in comparison to others. Not that every reader of your blog post will convert into a lead. But that is okay. Just continue blogging and make sure you add a call-to-action to achieve a higher conversion rate.
#4: Attract New Prospects into Your Pipeline
Gone are the days when the purchase cycle was linear. Modern consumers look for multiple touchpoints with the brand or business before taking a buying decision. Perhaps they read interesting blog content, watch an advertisement on television, attend a webinar or engage with a social media post.
Drive a prospect deeper into a website by providing valuable information that genuinely intrigues the reader. Irrespective of whether you are targeting consumers or businesses, blogs help drive interest in your products or services, bringing them into the buying cycle.
Therefore, the purpose of blogging is not just nurturing the leads but also attracting new clients into the purchase cycle.
#5: Educate Your Target Audience
A business blog is ideally a “publishing platform” for the brand or business. It is one of the best ways to establish communication with your prospective buyers and educate them with key information about your company.
Informing your customers means you take their interests and preferences in consideration, and can foresee the challenges they might have. It is far more reliable, relevant and powerful to influence your target audience in comparison to outright selling. In fact, sales and blogging work together to offer an improved buying experience to the customers. And as mentioned earlier, businesses that use blogging to educate their buyers earn 67% higher leads than others that do not.
#6: Get Higher Page Rankings in Search Engines
Search engines love fresh and unique content! And if it’s optimised for the right keywords that people are searching for, it can help you rank higher. Blogging is an effective SEO tool that you can leverage to improve your page rankings. Search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing like high-quality, original and relevant content – and will reward your website by giving it a top position in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).
Make your website search-engine-friendly with a business blog. Studies report that it increases the chances of your pages getting indexed by 434%. Furthermore, doing so can help your pages generate quality indexed links up to 97%. Blogs can help build an information hierarchy and improve internal linking that adds to website’s ranking power.
And when your site rankings improve, it can drive organic traffic to your website.
Yes; organic website traffic…that accounts for 73% of overall traffic that a business website receives! The number is big for marketers to ignore. So blogging for small businesses is the need of the hour!
#7: Business Blog Makes Incredible Social Media Content
We say, do both together!
Social media is a powerful platform to showcase and promote your brand and business. You already know it and have been using this medium to market your products and services, right?
But looking for innovative and fresh ideas to enhance your social media content? Use blogs!
Blog posts, when used intelligently on social media, can be a fantastic way to build greater engagement and authority for your business.
So, how to go with your company blog and social media together? Here are some smart tips for you –
- Pull out interesting points from your blog post and create an engaging social media content around each topic
- Take lines from your blog content and share on Twitter
- To make your blogs work great on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, use captivating images that instantly compel your followers to click
- Add social media buttons at the end of every blog post. This allows your readers to share it easily on various social media platforms
Are you wondering what does this all boil down to? The answer is –
- Greater Engagement With Your Brand Or Business
- Improved Visibility
- More Customers
- Better Conversions
And that’s what your agenda is, right?
#8: Build Authority with Business Blog
By creating fresh, industry-relevant and engaging blog content, you can showcase yourself as an industry expert. It can help build a nice authority by providing valuable information that your buyers need. This can include comprehensive instruction manuals, tips, buying guides, how-to posts, etc.
Over a period of time, it can become a go-to resource that delivers useful and consistent information to the readers. This can go a long way in building solid client relationships or free PR that will benefit your business.
#9: Boost Brand Value by Using Your Blogs in a Smart Way
Not sure how your blog can be a fantastic resource to improve your brand value? Here are some valuable tips for you to use your blog posts intelligently –
- Stay in touch with your customers using your blog content as an informative and useful newsletter
- Use tools like Beacon to turn your blog posts into eBooks that you can give away as a thank you gift, to build your email list or keep handy at trade shows and conferences
- Address FAQs of your target audience about your brand, products or services, crafting the answers into a beautiful blog post
- Curate your blog around new product/service launches, passively illustrating how it will have a positive impact on your customers
- Promote special offers but make sure it does not appear like a commercial
Have other interesting ideas to use your company blog? Do not forget to share with us!
#10: Blogging Can Help Generate Long-Term Profitable Results
Building a strong foothold with business blogging might seem overwhelming for many, particularly if it is in a nascent stage. However, once you have created enough posts and established your niche authority, you can soon experience remarkable results from your initiatives. After all, 70% of your blog traffic generates from posts older than the present month.
Conclusion
The above-mentioned reasons and several others validate the effectiveness of blogging as a powerful digital marketing tool. Building a successful company blog takes dedication, passion and time. But once you get started, you will be on the right track to realise its potential and generate long-term results. A blog is where your target audience can learn more before taking a purchase decision. A blog, when used smartly, can be a great catalyst to convert your website visitors into paying customers.
If you have any apprehension, the benefits of blogging for business discussed herewith will definitely persuade you to kickstart immediately.
So start creating a business blog today. Have more questions? Connect with our experts.