Does your business have an account on a social media platform?
If your answer is yes, you probably require a blog as well. Let us learn why blogging is important for business.
Why blogging is important for business
As of 2022, the number of internet users is just about to hit the 5 billion mark (or maybe it has by now).
And among these 5 billion, 77% of Internet users actively read blogs.
So, if you believe that simply creating a social media profile is enough for your business, you are missing out on a big opportunity.
Still not convinced? Here are the 9 reasons why a blog is important for your business.
1. Blog gets tons of traffic
What is the first thing you would want for your website after it has been successfully launched on the internet? Traffic!
No, not the kind of traffic you see on the roads. I’m referring to website traffic.
Website traffic is critical for one simple reason: if no one visits your website, it is pointless to host it on the internet.
However, you cannot expect people to find your website by accident. There has to be a way for people to find your website.
Social media profiles are acceptable. They will send you traffic, but not a lot of it (unless you have millions of followers).
So, how do you increase traffic to your website? A blog is a perfect answer to this question.
When you write blog posts on low-competition keywords that are highly optimised, You get ranked for them.
So for example if your blog post ranks for the keyword “what is SEO” on Google, every person searching for “what is SEO” will be presented with your blog post in the search result.
These rankings have high potential of bringing in thousands of visitors each day.
2. It generates leads
After you’ve made potential customers aware of your brand, the next step is to remain on their radar.
Many businesses use email marketing to maintain a frequent relationships with the people they have attracted through their blogs.
So how can you get your blog visitor’s email address?
You may have experienced this – when you click on a blog from your SERP, the blog asks for your email address.
Most businesses use this “classic” strategy to collect email addresses from blog visitors. However, because it provides no benefit to the reader, this approach may not always yield positive results.
In such cases, businesses use the “free” psychology to get more email sign-ups
Here’s how it works:
- You create a blog post about a specific topic and include a free resource in it.
- People visit your website and read your blog.
- The reader notices your free resource offering at a certain point on the page.
- They click it and enter their email address to receive it for free.
- You get their email address, and they get the free resource.
In most cases, the free resource will be an e-book, a video tutorial, or even a free trial of your product.
3. It earns the trust
People would never purchase anything from a brand they do not trust.
That is why presenting yourself as a thought leader to earn the trust of your potential customers is most important.
Blog posts help you present your expertise by writing authoritative content.
When you write blog posts on topics related to your business, you show the readers how authoritative you are.
This leads a reader to begin trusting your brand as they believe you to be a thought leader.
Blogs are excellent in nurturing your audience by providing information they can use and prove your expertise in the industry.
4. Helps with links
Links are one of Google’s 200 ranking factors, making them undoubtedly important for SEO.
Blog posts can significantly help you with three types of links.
Internal links
Internal links are links in your blog posts that take visitors to another page on your website.
Assume you have two pages on your website that are particularly important to you.
The first is a highly trafficked blog post, and the second is a sales-focused landing page.
By adding an internal link to your landing page in your traffic-loaded blog post, you can send all the traffic from your blog post to your landing page and generate sales.
External links
External links are links in your blog posts that send your blog visitors to another website.
See how I have included a link here that sends you to another website. That is an external link.
By adding links to credible sources in your blog post, your visitors will get to learn more about the topic, which, in turn, will improve your brand image.
Backlinks
Backlinks, like the external links I mentioned earlier, are links from other websites pointing to your website.
These backlinks act as a vote from other websites, informing Google that your website is trustworthy, thereby improving your ranking.
Blogs are the most linked pages on Google. It is found that long-form blogs have 77.2% more chances of getting backlinks than short content.
5. Better customer service
To improve your business quality, you need to first be sure about what your potential customers want.
Generally speaking, websites are not the answer to better customer service.
That is because websites deliver information in a one-way manner, which often leaves no room for customers to ask questions and interact.
Blog posts are information-rich pieces of content that educate your customers and give answers to their questions.
Customers love blog posts as it opens a two-way interaction door for them to learn and interact.
Furthermore, by reviewing your blog posts’ comment sections and engagement data, you can gain insights into your customers’ minds and create a more accurate persona.
This allows you to better understand your prospects and shape your strategy.
6. Boosts your social media marketing
Have you ever visited a website and thought to yourself, “Wow, this is amazing.” “I should share it on social media.”
It is extremely uncommon for you to do so.
That’s because, in general, websites are only for doing business and have nothing worth sharing (unless the user really wants to share it).
But what about blog posts? Blog posts are meant to be shared with others.
People enjoy sharing blog posts because they contain information that not only promotes a business but also provides users with valuable content.
By including blogs on your website, you increase the likelihood that your website will be shared on social media, resulting in new visitors.
Second, blog posts help you in maintaining your social media profile as well.
As a business, you may have struggled with coming up with content ideas for your social media posts.
Blogging allows you to leave this headache behind by providing you with content ideas based on your most recent blog post.
7. Forms a unique identity
Your business needs to stand out like a sore thumb in a competition-heavy world like this. And, to distinguish yourself from your competitors, you must first develop a distinct brand identity.
Many businesses rely solely on their websites to present their brand identity, which is not the right way to do it.
The website, you see, approaches the audience in a more traditional manner, which does not reveal much about a brand’s personality.
A blog, on the other hand, could be the ideal solution.
Blog posts are long-form pieces of content that reflect a company’s style and personality.
The content, tone, information, and theme of your blog tell your visitors how your brand differs from competitors and why they should pick you from the jar.
8. Direct promotion
As you blog, more people will visit your website as your blog, giving you more opportunities to promote your product to them.
Here are some ideas for using blogging to promote your business.
1. Many businesses write case study blogs about how they helped their clients achieve their objectives. These types of blog posts reassure potential customers that your company is the right solution to their problems.
2. You can create comparison posts in which you compare your product to competitors’ products.
3. You can even write “how to” posts in which you promote your product as the solution to a problem.
9. Provides long-term results
While blogging is not a one-time job as it requires you to constantly update your post, most of the work gets completed once you hit the publish button.
Google may not index your blog post instantly because it takes time for it to process and give a ranking to your blog post.
However, once your blog begins to appear in SERPs, it will continue to bring new visitors to your website for the rest of its life.
Each blog you write is like a long-term asset for your company, providing results until it is deleted.
Importance of blogging in digital marketing for business
Here are some digital marketing channels blogging help in:
- SEO – By writing highly optimised blog posts, you increase your chances of ranking higher.
- Social media marketing – Blog posts receive more shares and provide you with ideas for social media content.
- Email marketing – Blog posts attract visitors and help in the collection of email addresses.
Blogging for small businesses
No matter what kind of business you run, whether it is a jewellery store or a cheese shop, every business must blog.
Blogging is inexpensive and easy to set up as opposed to traditional forms of marketing and has a higher potential of bringing customers.
Plus, by blogging, you open the door to even more opportunities to expand your business. So, yes, small businesses should blog.
Examples of successful businesses using blogs
Here are the 12 best examples of businesses that grew with the help of blogging.
1. Hubspot: Marketing automation tool
2. Wix: A website builder
3. Moz: An SEO tool getting traffic from blogs
4. Campaign Monitor: A marketing automation tool
5. Buffer: A social media tool getting millions of traffic from their blog
6. Udemy: An online courses platform ranking for many searches
7. Six Months Smiles: A healthcare blog
8. Grammarly: A grammar tool
9. Threadless: A t-shirt-selling website
10. Coco Lapine Design: Interior design business
11. YoastSEO: An SEO tool
12. Shopify: an e-commerce company
Conclusion: Why is blogging important for business
Creating a blog page and starting from scratch might feel like a daunting task at the beginning. But trust me, the process only gets easier once you start writing.
Today, blogging is ranked as the fifth most trusted source of information, which increases your chances of converting customers by providing useful information.
So don’t put it off any longer and start blogging for your business.