If you’re looking for an effective, durable promotional tool for your business or product, you can find it in a blog. Regardless of your industry, a blog should be part of your marketing and promotions toolbox for a variety of reasons, including those highlighted by these stats from HubSpot:
82% of marketers who blog daily acquired a customer using their blog
B2B marketers who use a blog receive 67% more leads than those who do not
46% of people read blogs more than once a day
Stats are great, but maybe you need to be convinced a little more that blogs are relevant and beneficial for your business. So let’s take a look at six ways that blogging can boost your business:
Blogging increases your SEO
Even more than keywords, search engines like fresh content. If you post relevant content on your blog, you have the potential to increase your visibility to prospective customers through search engines. Blogging daily is optimal but blogging even a few times a week will improve your search engine ranking.
One of the things SEO-conscious stakeholders keep track of is the word count of their blog posts. Correlating the performance of the post to its word count may prove useful, especially over time, as many websites see better performance of their blog posts when they are longer and contain high-quality content. Some also find a “sweet spot” range in their word count, where they are able to see that blog posts that are 800-1000 words perform better than blog posts with lower word count, for example.
Blogging personalizes your organization
You’ve heard it said that people buy from those they know and trust. Well, a blog gives you a platform for getting to know your potential customers – and a way for them to develop a sense of trust. Through your blog posts, you can further develop your brand and organization’s personality. You can comment on what is happening in your industry, introduce new products or services, and share content that wouldn’t make sense on the strictly “corporate” side of your web site. But, above all, your customers – and potential customers – will get to know and trust your organization a little more. You can take this one step further with number 3, which is:
Blogging gives you a platform for sharing your why
If you follow Simon Sinek’s advice to any degree, a blog is a great place to share your organization’s why. Blogs, by their nature, are personal, which is what makes them so well-suited to digging deeper into the core of your organization. Use blog posts to give customers a glimpse into what your company believes in, your philosophy, your employees, and why it all matters. “People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.” Convey your why through your blog and convert more customers!
Blogging creates free PR
Yes, we said free. Publish blog posts regularly, on relevant industry topics and your areas of expertise, and you may find journalists and other bloggers seeking you out for interviews, or comments on trends or industry happenings.
Blogging is like constant customer/market research
Writing compelling posts and opening them to comments allows you to engage with your customers, prospects, and other industry leaders. Their comments will show you what is important to them, and you’ll be able to respond quickly to any concerns. You’ll also be able to use blog analytics to track your readers, learn what search topics led them to your site, assess the most popular topics, and track readers’ shares and comments.
Blogging allows you to maximize your social media channels
You can use blog posts – both new and evergreen posts – to drive people to your web site from your social media sites. People are more likely to visit a web site to view content than they are to click on social media profile links. In addition to driving customers and prospects to your site, sharing useful and informative posts will help establish your organization as a leader in your industry.
With a strategic and sustained investment that focuses on quality, a business blog can help you generate leads, improve your SEO, and develop more meaningful and lasting relationships with your customers.
SafeHouse Web is a Silicon Valley digital marketing agency in Hollister, California, that provides tailored digital marketing solutions. To learn more about our client-trusted digital marketing, website design and social media advertising services, contact us today.
