Does Your Business Need a Blog?
Blogging.
I know you've heard of it, and you've heard many people telling you it's the way forward for your business.
But why?
Why should you spend your time writing up blog posts when you could be focusing on selling your product?
Well I'm going to do that annoying thing where I answer your question with more questions.
- Do you want more traffic to your website?
- Do you want that traffic to convert into leads?
- Do you want those leads to already trust your business and believe that you know your industry inside and out?
I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you answered 'yes' to all of those. In that case, your business needs a blog.
Still not convinced? Well here are 5 reasons why it's a good idea.
You'll Make Search Engines Happy
We've all heard of SEO and how important it is for your website.
Each page of your site needs to be optimised with keywords relating to your business. That way, when someone searches those keywords, Google and other search engines will show your page.
Easy.
But search engines like fresh content. If you're not updating your website often enough, you're not going to be on Google's radar for long.
The more new content you add, the more often Google and other search engines will crawl and index your site, and the more likely you are to show up in searches.
It's not likely that you're going to be able to update your 'About' page every week, so that's where blogs come in. A blog is a steady stream of fresh content to your website that Google will love.
And not only is it new content all the time, but it's more pages to your website.
The more pages your website has, the more chances of showing up in search engine results.
And of course, if you're making sure your blog posts are optimised for your keywords, there's even more chance again.
You'll Make Your Customers (and Prospects) Happy
Your prospective customers want to know that you know what you're talking about. They won't want to buy from someone they don't trust.
Having a blog shows your knowledge and builds that trust.
As cheesy as it sounds, it's important to have this trust.
The person reading your blog is probably not at the point of purchase yet. But showing that you know your stuff means that you'll be who they think of when it comes to making a buying decision.
How do you show your knowledge? By answering customer questions and addressing customer problems in your blog posts.
A quick bit of research on social media or even in the comments sections of your previous posts (blogs win again) will show you the kind of problems your customers face.
If you can write something that addresses these problems, and your post comes up when that problem is searched for, then that's a happy prospect right there. And a happy prospect is more likely to become a customer.
You'll Generate More Leads
Okay, so you've written some blog posts, optimised them for search engines, and raised the number of visitors to your website.
Now what?
Well, you want to turn those visitors into leads.
The power of the blog strikes again, this time in the form of CTA's.
A CTA (or Call-To-Action) is what tells the reader what you want them to do next, and 90% (if not more) of your blogs should have one.
Your best option is to have something downloadable - a free ebook, a whitepaper, a brochure - something you can give the reader in exchange for their email address.
In the point above I talked about making prospects happy by addressing their problems. A happy prospect is going to be willing to hand over their contact information for more information. Once you have their email address, voila!
A lead is born.
You'll Raise Your Social Media Game
If you have social media accounts you know how hard it can be to keep them updated.
Like search engines, your Facebook and Twitter pages need fresh content to keep them relevant. Sharing other people's content will only get you so far.
Having a continuous flow of blog posts to share on your social media accounts means you're getting more opportunities to send people to your website instead of someone else's.
And once they're on your website they might read more blog posts, or download an e-book, or even buy something.
Sharing your content on social media means you're also more likely to be seen by a wider audience that may not have known about you otherwise.
If even one of your followers shares your post then your audience now includes their followers. The more content you've got, the more likely it is to be shared.
And last but definitely not least:
It's Cheap
Writing blog posts, making videos or creating infographics doesn't have to cost you any money.
It's one of the best things about having a business blog. It can be done for free.
What it will cost you however, is time.
Research needs to be done. The writing, or filming itself needs to be done. Editing, proofreading, all of that work needs to be done. If you have the time to spend, then it's well worth it. Having a blog is one of the best things you can do for your business's online presence.
If you don't have the time to do all of that, but are willing to spend a bit of money, then hiring a copywriter is your best option.
They do all the research, writing, editing and proofreading for you, and you get all of the same benefits.
Either way, a blog is not something you'll regret starting.
Done right, it will boost your website traffic, boost your lead generation and boost your social media presence, all while making your customers happy.
What more could you want?
Ready to start your blog?
Have a look at my 7 steps to creating an effective business blog.