Wondering whether you should finally start that blog for your business? Or maybe you started a blog years ago with high hopes, but kind of let it fizzle out when people started shouting “make video content!” Sound familiar?
Listen, we get it. As the world of digital marketing leans into social media and video content more than ever, it might seem like starting a blog for your business in 2022 would be an outdated move. You may be tempted to forget about blogging altogether.
But not so fast. With approximately 6 million blog articles written daily, blogs are actually becoming more popular with businesses. In fact, an overwhelming 77% of internet users read blogs (Social Media Today), and a study done by Hubspot shows that blogging for your business leads to 55% more website visitors. That’s a lot more potential customers!
Blogging is an undeniably powerful way to market your business, so we’re not surprised that it’s becoming a more popular publishing format. Let's take a look at 6 reasons why blogging is so effective and why you need to consider it as an essential part of your marketing strategy.
Convert leads into dream customers
Blogging is a cost-effective way to convert leads into customers.
Leads can cost a lot of money, and let’s be honest, they’re not always ready to buy what you have. Blogging helps you generate even more leads and convert them into customers. This results in better return of investment (ROI) than traditional advertising methods like pay-per-click (PPC) ads or banner ads, which require that the lead take an action before they are converted into a customer.
Through blogging, you can create relationships with potential customers and educate them about your industry. The more knowledge these potential customers have about your products or services, the more likely they will be willing to do business with you when it's time for them to make their purchase decision.
Build brand awareness and gain customer trust
We all know that brands are constantly competing for our attention. That means they’re competing for your customers’ attention, too.
If you want your brand to stand out among the fierce competition, a well-written blog will help get you there. By creating a blog and using it as a platform to share your expertise, you establish yourself as an authority in your field. This can help you gain trust with potential customers, who will see you as someone they can rely on for advice. Plus, if other websites link to yours as a trusted source of information, your site’s SEO is going to get a serious boost.
Put simply, the better your brand's online visibility, the better your chances of developing a successful business. You created this business for a reason – you’re the expert! A well-written blog will help you draw readers in as you demonstrate just how much you know about your industry.
Repurpose content for social media
You’ve heard it a million times: social media is an amazing way to reach your audience. And it’s true – but it can be a challenge to constantly come up with fresh, relevant content. That’s where your blog comes in! Repurposing blog content for social media benefits you in two ways: it gives you brand new content to post on your page, and it drives more traffic back to your blog.
If you’ve written a great blog post, get it out into the world. You can share it on Facebook and LinkedIn, send out a newsletter with the same information — and even use some of your ideas in other marketing materials like brochures or ads.
The key is to make sure that the content is relevant, interesting and valuable for your readers. You’re passionate about your product or service, so let that passion shine through!
Drive traffic to your website
An engaging, active blog is a surefire way to increase your website traffic. It can even lead to increased conversions, sales and revenue for your business.
Picture this: you’re a busy mom trying to live a more eco-conscious lifestyle, so you do a bit of googling. You find a top-ranking blog post called “6 Ideas to Help You Go Green in the Kitchen” published by an eco-lifestyle shop. You quickly scan the easy-to-read blog post and notice that one of the sections links to the website’s product page for some non-plastic food containers.
To your delight, the sustainable food containers are practical, affordable, and they even offer lunch boxes for kids. You’ve never heard of this brand before, but you’re sold — they just gained a new customer! You might not have found them if it weren’t for their helpful blog post.
Stories like these happen all the time thanks to blogs.
On top of that, blogging also improves the authority of your website by showing Google that you are active in the digital space (social media accounts like Twitter and Facebook don't count). It's much easier for search engines like Google to rank websites with blogs on them because they know that these sites are regularly updating their content — a sign of good SEO practices.
Keep your audience engaged with your brand
Take a second to think about one or two of your favourite brands. What makes them special to you? If you’re like other loyal customers, you probably feel some kind of connection with them.
Blogging is an incredible way to build trust and rapport with your customers, fans, and followers. This is especially true when you create content that solves problems for them or helps them make decisions about their lives. If people like what they're reading, they'll keep coming back for more — and they might even tell their friends about it.
Creating engaging content can look like:
- Blog posts that focus on topics relevant to your business or industry, while providing helpful advice based on personal experience (e.g., "6 Tips for Beginner Runners.")
- Posts related to current events in society so that readers feel connected with other members of the community (e.g., "The Best Autumn Recipes for Gut Health")
- Behind-the-scenes stories at work showing real people doing their jobs, or featuring interviews with different employees.
- Posts that invite people to share their experiences and stories, engage in conversation with other readers, or just come back for more of the same.
You can also use blogging as a tool for customer service and support, too — just like you would use social media channels like Facebook or Twitter — but with more control over the content (and potentially more personalization).
Build your email list
Even in 2022, email marketing is still a reliable marketing tactic. But getting people to sign up is not always simple — with a flood of emails hitting our inboxes everyday, readers have to believe that they need to be subscribed to your email list. It needs to provide real value.
Here's where a blog can be useful. It keeps your brand top-of-mind and supports the idea that your audience needs to stay up-to-date with your business. People are more likely to believe that your email newsletters are trustworthy if they view your blog material to be educational, interesting, and relevant. We recommend including internal links in both your blogs and emails to encourage readers to subscribe. You can even repackage blog content for emails, or include a link to the full article.
Ready to Boost Your Biz?
You’ve got an amazing brand that the world needs to hear about. It’s here because you believe in it, and others want to get behind it too — don’t do your hard work a disservice by sleeping on the opportunities that blogging can bring.
Maybe you’re wondering where on earth you’re going to find the time to write a blog. We get it, you’re busy running a business! Which is why outsourcing your blog can be a great way to promote your brand while allowing you to focus on — well, running a business.
If you like the sound of that, you’re in luck. Blog writing for businesses is our specialty! Go ahead and drop us a line in the contact form below, and let’s get the ball rolling.