July 10, 2014
The Importance of Blogging: 5 Reasons You Should Have a Business Blog
You’ve likely heard it shouted across the web that “content is king,” and that blogging for your business is a must. But what does that mean, exactly? And what makes it so important?
Content is King
It can’t really be overstated; content really is that important. This isn’t just timely content that is quick to produce and shares easily, but quality content that supplies a real value to the customer.
For example: Let’s say you sell pools, and your potential customers visit your website to try and find out how much they should expect to spend on an inground pool. Of course, the exact price is going to depend various factors, such as how level their backyard is, what size of pool they want, and so on.
There is no easy way to answer the question in a single page detailing every element of the cost, but what if you published a series of blog posts explaining the cost and determining factors they should be considering? Now, you have given the customer exactly what they were looking for, sidestepped a wide-ranging question without ignoring it, and placed yourself right into the prime spotlight for interested customers. It is highly likely that the visitor will be back when they are ready to do business, and you’ve amassed a collection of quality information that is likely to lead many more potential customers to your site.
Exponential Increase in Leads
But, don’t take our word for it. HubSpot recently worked with over 7,000 businesses in their Marketing Benchmarks report to find:
- B2B and B2C companies alike benefit from blogging, generating an average of 2.5x more leads for 101-200 published pages than companies with 50 or fewer website pages.
- Say you blogged 3-4 times a week: companies found they had 5x more traffic just by blogging 15 times or more per month.
- Even if you increased your mere 3-5 blog posts a month to 6-8 posts a month, you could expect your leads to nearly double.
- And, if you really just need to focus on starting a blog for your business in the first place: companies that blog just 1-2x per month will generate 70% more leads than those that aren’t blogging at all.
5 Reasons You Should Start Your Business Blog Today
1. Increased Traffic: The SEO of it all is fairly simple: There’s no question that more indexed pages, more keywords and more questions answered will lead your website to more exposure. You can do this in a variety of ways, including answering common questions like in the pool business example. The more you put out there that addresses your customers need for information, the more you’re likely to get back from them.
2. Leads: Planning out topics and writing blog posts might sound like time-consuming work, but the lead generation and ROI is unbeatable. Get to know more about your industry, and look for where there is a lack of information. Write posts that are unique and useful, and you’ll have content that others are eager to link out to.
3. Public Awareness: How do potential customers even know you exist if you aren’t easy to find when they are searching for your product, services or related topics? Again, it’s all about getting your name out there. Social media is a great place to share your content, targeting your customers via chats under a specific hashtag, or by answering questions on a competitor’s site. Having quality blog content shows that you’re a legitimate business with real knowledge in your industry.
4. Long-Term Results: One static blog post could generate hundreds (or thousands) of views over a period of months or years. This is often referred to as “evergreen” content, and if done correctly, it will bring in customers searching for your services. Because it doesn’t “go stale” like more timely posts, you can promote this content over and over again on your social media sites. And customers who see that you are consistently posting worthwhile information will continue to come back to your site.
5. Proving you are the Industry Authority: Proving your business to be an authority in your industry takes time, but if you follow the basic guidelines, it isn’t an impossible task. Blog posts provide clarity, answer questions and offer inspiration. Being an engaging member of the community, and showing that you’re listening to your customers by writing the content that they want to read may lead you to a coveted spot as a known and respected member of your industry.
Producing quality blog posts on a regular basis for your business will lead to a long-term content marketing strategy that incrementally adds value with each blog post that you produce.
