Four Reasons Your Business Needs a Blog

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I’ve been blogging since before blogging was really a thing. Back when I was a teenager, I dabbled around setting up Angelfire webpages with pictures of my friends and I and lyrics to my favorite songs at the time. Around 2001, I started writing on Livejournal - again documenting life as I went to college, and sharing my thoughts on pop culture (clearly, deep and engaging content).

Around 2007, blogging began to evolve. I moved platforms to Wordpress, and began to engage with brands. It was all really exciting for me to be a part of. Seeing the evolution of blogging alongside the evolution of my career was meaningful in the sense that it showed me the real value of blogging for businesses.

A lot of businesses say blogging is a waste of time. I beg to differ. The results aren’t always immediate but I bet if you look at year over year traffic, organic traffic growth, and leads generated, you’d see a difference and probably wouldn’t think it’s as much of a waste of time as you think.

Additionally, when it comes down to it, there are proven statistics that show that busineses who blog generate more leads than businesses that don’t, and blogging can be oftentimes, just as effective in promoting your company than through some other forms of paid advertisements. Want more leads than the competition down the street? Start your business blog.

Here are my top four reasons businesses should have a blog:

1. SEO

   SEO is a long term strategy and often involves a few different strategies. While blogging won’t get you on the first page of Google overnight, it will enhance your rankings over time. Search engines reward fresh content that use relevant keywords and meet the needs of searchers. Having a blog on your website, allows you to do all three of these things while gaining organic traffic and having content to share across your other marketing avenues (email, social, etc…).

2. Thought Leadership
   Everyone trusts the experts right? Blogging allows you to flex your expertise and share that knowledge around the interwebs. Position yourself as a thought leader in your industry by writing about the questions you’re asked most frequently. This not only shows your expertise but keeps you on top of your industry and industry best-practices by communicating that knowledge. The stronger your knowledge and communication of that knowledge is, the more trust you earn from your customers and other potential customers. Trust turns those interested in your services/products into not only new customers but loyal customers (even better!).

3. Compete
   Chances are you have at least one competitor, though likely more. Because no two companies are exactly alike, blogging allows you to showcase your personality, information, and other differentiators (experience, perhaps?) This can be a huge differentiator, especially if you have some big players in your industry.

4. Content for email and social media
   We’ve talked about how email has a stupid high ROI and is one of the most effective tools for marketing your business. Well, how about sending some content that’s helpful to your audience? People don’t want to be sold to - they go online seeking information. More than ever, people are going to do their research on whatever product or service they need (no lie, my husband takes MONTHS of research before buying something - reading blogs, reviews, etc… - he’s a marketing case study dream) before they even know you exist. Having a blog helps them find the information that will help them make a decision regarding your product/services.

   So many business owners - especially of small businesses - think that blogging is so time consuming. Maybe so, but you have the information - get it down on paper, hire someone to edit and post it so you can go back to doing what it is that you’re great at - serving your clients. By not blogging, you’re missing opportunities to connect with your audience, showcase your expertise, and get found online.

   Want to learn more about how content marketing can help your business? Contact us for a free digital strategy session.