Blogging. Everyone’s doing it. But how effective is it, really?
Many businesses are likely wondering if blogging can really work for them, or if it only works for big companies. Luckily, blogging isn’t a form of marketing that’s size specific. In fact, blogging is crucial for businesses of all sizes.
1. One of the easiest ways to attract new clients to your site is through your blog!
Do you want to attract new potential customers? Silly question. Of course you do!
And not just that - you want to attract the right audience. What you choose to write about can do just that - attracting the right audience. You can appeal to the interests and pain points of your ideal customers, while introducing them to your company and products or services.
2. Blogging allows you to showcase calls-to-action that convert into leads.
Now that you’re getting more traffic to your site, how do you use it? Simple. Showcase calls-to-action that lead readers of your blog to a landing page, product, or offer. These CTAs could be on the sidebar so that they’re seen on every single blog, or you could get more specific aligning related CTAs to the specific content you’re writing about. If you’re doing that (and I recommend it!), you can include a CTA in the middle of the post, at the end of your post, or by pop-up. Feel free to experiment to see what works best for your readers.
3. Blogging can dramatically increase your site’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
What is your current method for increasing where your site falls in search engine rankings? The benefit of blogging for your SEO is that you’re creating fresh new pages, which contain keywords you want to rank for (and hopefully are optimized for said keywords). Another benefit is that sites that are updated regularly are more favored by Google - which means if you’re blogging weekly, your site has an advantage over a website that only gets updated when core pages change.
4. Blogging helps you build trust and showcase your expertise.
You know your stuff, but how will anyone know this if you don’t show it? With blog posts, you can showcase what you know, and how your company can use this knowledge to help others.
5. Blogging gives you the opportunity to build a community.
Community seems like a buzzword in marketing these days. It also seems like the ideal - connecting one-on-one with customers, getting them continuously excited about what you do. If you’re not sure how a blog does that, the key is in the interaction. You can allow customers to interact directly with you through comments. Frequent clients could be invited to guest post or talk about their experience with you. There are a million different opportunities.
So, why aren’t you blogging yet?
I don’t have any time.
You may be reluctant because of the effort it requires. But it doesn’t have to be as extensive as you may think. You don’t have to blog every single day. In fact, I’d recommend not doing that when you’re just getting started. Instead, consider beginning with a weekly post or biweekly post. Once you have a rhythm established, you can always increase the amount, but starting slow prevents you from getting overwhelmed or burned-out.
But doesn’t it still take time to write? Yes - but not too much time. The traditional rule of thumb is that a blog post should be at least 300+ words, although 1,000 words or more is proven to do better for SEO.
Better yet, you may already have content you can pull from to create these blog posts. Think about it. Do you have?:
Any of those can be used and reformatted into fresh blog posts. But, keep in mind that your blog posts must always provide value to your target audience, and not just a thinly-veiled sales pitch for your products or services.
I don’t know what to write about.
Believe it or not, this is something every company has trouble with at some time or another. You can go the advanced route by partnering with an inbound marketing agency. However, what might be helpful when you’re just getting started is to think about what the things you know that your customers wish they knew. What industry “secret sauce” do you take for granted that your average customer would be delighted to know about? Share that.
And on that note, take Bufferapp, for example. Bufferapp is a company focused on sharing social media updates and they write blog posts on everything from what time is best to share social updates to how to create simple quote images.
Does your company still not have a blog? Hopefully you’re giving that a second thought now. Maybe you simply haven’t been maximizing your existing blog to its full potential. Don’t worry - you can fix that too. It’s time to dust off your typing hands and realize that blogging is essential for increasing sales of any company, of any size.