Mommy blogs. Vegan blogs. Iguana owner blogs. Iguana-owning, vegan mommy blogs. There’s a blog for everything nowadays. The pressure to have one in your content marketing strategy can be overwhelming. If you’re a small business, you may be wondering why you would bother with writing a blog.
This may ring even truer if you’re in a difficult-to-sell industry, such as air conditioning repair or insurance. But blogging is becoming a big part of content marketing. Blogging is a valuable content marketing tool for businesses. It can also be an inexpensive way to increase traffic and engage with your customers.
Here are 5 key benefits to adding blogging to your content marketing strategy.
#1 SEO
The best way to have your content is to have good search engine optimization (SEO). Your website will be as useful as a screen door on a submarine if no one can find it! When more people are seeing your links in search engines, the more traffic you’re going to get. According to a HubSpot survey, companies that blog have 55% more visitors to their website than those who don’t. Also, companies that blog had 434% more indexed pages.
SEO is vital if you want to show up online, and more indexed pages mean better SEO. Blogging with keyword rich, consistent content will increase your visibility. The more valuable content on your website, the more likely a search engine will reward you by ranking your website higher for more searches.
Consistent blog posts will help with another aspect of digital marketing: social media. It can be difficult to come up with creative, unique content for social media. This can ring true if you’re in an industry that may be less personable. Blog posts provide great content that you can share on your social profiles with ease. You can direct your social media followers to your blog and your blog readers to follow you on social media.
#2 Generates Leads
Making your website easy to find is great, but it’s still as useless as a pogo stick in quicksand if you’re readers don’t take some kind of action. Blogging can not only help to increase traffic to your website but also generate leads.
The main way to get your blog to generate leads is simple: put a call to action (CTA) at the end of every blog post. Imagine you own a bakery and you write a blog about the details of wedding cakes. Adding a call to action at the bottom informs your readers that YOU make excellent wedding cakes. Make it even easier for them by utilizing a contact form and linking to it within your blog.
Of course, there are many different forms CTAs can take. This article by HubSpot, for example, discusses EIGHT of them. Encourage your readers to contact you. You can also urge them to connect with your brand on social media. Have them follow or share your content, subscribe to your blog, or leave relevant comments. This gives your audience another chance to connect with you and view you as more than a stuffy business.
#3 Establishes You as an Industry Expert
This benefit is difficult to measure compared to the first two, but it can be important. Writing blogs that answer customers’ questions will earn you their respect. If you prove to consumers that you can see problems from their perspective, they trust you more. 60% of consumers will feel good about a company after reading unique content on their website. That positivity can lead to more form submissions and phone calls, which will lead to more sales! Also, it forces you to stay up to date with industry news and trends, keeping you on top of things.
Sometimes knowing what questions your readers are asking can be difficult. But to optimize your site for search engines, you’ve got to know what is most relevant to your readers. Our marketing team recently discovered BloomBerry. Although it’s still in a beta form right now, BloomBerry can be useful for content creators. BloomBerry gathers all the questions asked on a few online forums that contain keywords or topics that you request. This way, you can see what keywords and topics are being discussed the most and how they are being discussed.
#4 Connect with Your Customers
Blogs can show your customers a more personal and approachable side of your business. It gives your company a personality and a voice. Again, it goes back to the idea that you’re providing your customers with more reasons to trust you. You’re showing them that you have a passion for the industry, not for the money.
Remember, this is about providing value to your customers, not selling yourself. Blogs can’t be long-form advertisements for your business. Your brand’s personality should shine, not your sales pitch. People will also share things that are useful to them. This is another reason to ensure that your content will benefit your readers. Your blog either needs to show the personal side of your business (like our Pets of Square 205 post) or provide meaningful content (like our copywriting post)!
#5 Long Term Benefits
Want to know something great about the internet? Whatever you put there stays there, unless you remove it. Blogs that you post could help bring in leads 5 years down the road, depending on the quality of your blog. If you post a blog that answers a common question or concern, people will still be finding it later. Plus, you can always repurpose old blog posts or link to them in your new ones. A good rule of thumb is to only create content if you will use it at least 3 times. This could be linking to it in another post, sharing it on social media, or sending it out in an email newsletter.
For example, say you’re an a/c repair company and you write a blog post about different types of air filters. You post it on your blog and later share it on your social media profiles. A few weeks later, you write a post about springtime allergies and link to your blog post about air filters. The next month, you send out a newsletter about a/c maintenance and you include a link to the air filter blog. As you write more posts and share more content, you can keep coming up with new uses for your old content.
According to HubSpot’s content marketing statistics, one blog post creates as much traffic as six decaying posts in its lifetime. The call to action will help turn them into customers.
That’s All 5, Folks!
There are many reasons to run a business blog, but these are our top five. Remember, while blogging can be an important piece of content marketing, it isn’t magic. It takes time and hard work to sustain it. Are you interested in having a business blog now, but don’t have the time? Contact us! At Square 205, we have skilled copywriters and content creators who can help you get started.
Still not sure if a blog is right for you or need help with your strategy? We can help create and implement strategies for a limited time or ongoing campaign. Our experienced developers and designers are standing by.
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