You’ve probably heard that you should be blogging, because it’s good for your business. You may have noticed your competitors have started blogs. You may have heard about how it’s an essential part of any marketing plan.
The consensus on the power of blogging is pretty clear. The potential benefits, though, might be a little less obvious. Running a blog can have enormous benefits for your company. Here are a few of the biggest ones.
Quality Over Quantity
Blogs, Resource sections or whatever you want to call your “blog” are usually a great thing for a business. If you take away only one thing from this article, let it be this: Quality over Quantity – it’s not about publishing blogs or resources just to publish them. It’s about publishing amazing content that will attract readers and give them something to truly enjoy. So remember, one incredible article a month can do much more than 20 mediocre articles. Don’t stop here, read on for more great tips and enjoy!
Blogs Bring in Traffic
In order to spread the word about your business, you could invest in paid advertisements. Those ads would get sent out and hopefully be seen by the right people. Some of those people would, hopefully, then contact your company. That’s outbound marketing.
Inbound marketing is another, newer marketing strategy. In inbound marketing, the customers come to you. Blogs pay a big part in helping those customers find your business.
There are only so many pages on your website unless you have a blog, of course. A blog gives you a way to regularly update your online presence. Each time you write a new blog post, you give people another way to find you.
By writing about content that’s relevant to your industry and useful for potential customers, you make sure you attract people who are likely to be interested in the product or service your business provides.
Blogs Boost Your Credibility
Creating content related to your industry establishes you as an expert in your field, boosts your credibility and trustworthiness and helps build relationships with potential customers.
When someone stumbles upon your blog post in a search for the answer to a question and the post answers that question, you’ve established your business as a useful resource. That person is now more likely to trust you and think of your business before a competitor’s when they need what you offer.
They may even come back to your blog if they got some sort of value out of the content you created. Over time, this will help build a relationship between this person and your business and cause them to develop a positive image of your company.
Blogs Help Generate Leads
Credibility isn’t a very tangible benefit. Leads, however, are. Blogs can help you on your way to your business’s goal of making a sale and converting someone into a loyal customer.
Every blog post is a chance to generate a lead, so every piece you write should include a call to action. That call could encourage them to download a free e-book, sign up for an email list, start a free trial or anything else that moves through your sales funnel.
While not everyone who reads your blog post will become a customer, the probability is higher than if a random person had seen your ad on a billboard. Because this person sought out your content, they are interested in it. Because the information in the post is relevant to your business, they’re also more likely to be interested in your business’s products.
Blogs Keep Everyone Informed
Blogs are an easy way to make sure that everyone is up to date on the what’s going on with your company and your industry.
You could use your blog to announce company news. You could use it publicize special offers, new products and events or to inform customers about issues that may affect them. Your blog could serve as a useful resource for your employees, too.
Blogs also make things easier on your salespeople. Because they contain so much useful information, many customers will use them to do research before contacting you. They’ll be well informed before they ever even speak with a salesperson, which saves time for them and for your business.
Blogs Drive Inbound Marketing Campaigns
Blogs are important, because they are, of course, the bread and butter of an inbound marketing campaign.
Regular blog updates with effective titles and relevant content consistently give you something to share on your social media. When you share your post on social media, it’ll drive traffic to it. This makes it more effective, while also boosting your social media presence.
Blogs also give you somewhere to share other pieces of content you create as part of your inbound marketing strategy. You can encourage people to download your whitepapers, sign up for your email list or watch your webinar series right from your blog.
Blogs don’t just provide short-term benefits, either. As they spread on social media and continue to be found online, they’ll keep generating leads far into the future.
A blog can be a powerful thing. By creating blog content that’s relevant to your business and useful to your audience, you can attract potential customers to your website, generate leads and grow your customer base. Blogs can have tremendous benefits for your business and, because they create value for your audience, also for your customers.