Tags – Benefits of Blogging for Small Business
As a founder of your new small business, you may have asked yourself if blogging is actually worth the time and effort.
Well, the short answer is: OF COURSE!
At the end of the day, running a business requires time and effort; and blogging is one element that is an inexpensive way to boost your marketing efforts and attract prospective customers by driving traffic to your website.
But, don’t just take my word for it. Here’s some real figures to get you thinking:
- Over 409 million people view more than 20 billion pages each month
- Long form content generates 8 times more page views, 3 times more social media shares and 9 times more leads
- There are approximately 63,000 searches made on Google every second
- 77% of internet users read blogs
Still not convinced? Well, here are 5 big benefits of blogging for small businesses.
1. Boost SEO
Everyone knows how important ranking on search engines is for the success of a business.
But many small business owners do not truly understand what it takes to rank well, especially when the blog copy has been carefully crafted and is full of relevant keywords.
Well to put it simply, Google ranks pages according to how authoritative they are, which means you need links coming from other authoritative websites.
Basically, backlinks are one of the 200 factors that Google algorithms consider when ranking a website on the search engine result page (SERP).
And, many experts believe backlinks are the 3rd most important factor in SEO.
Essentially, when you create a blog post that provides value to your customers as well as other companies within your industry, it’s a lot easier to gain relevant links.
And, these links for authoritative websites act as a recommendation or a vote of confidence, which communicates to Google that your business is trustworthy and an expert in your field.
Furthermore, backlinks help to build your domain authority, which overall helps improve your discoverability in the SERPs.
On this front, if you would like your content to do better on search engines, here are a few helpful tips:
2. Build Brand’s Personality
Your brand’s personality is what makes you stand out from the rest. It’s what humanises your business in the eyes of your potential customers and it can’t be replicated.
So, blogging is a great way to develop your brand and give it a voice.
After all, people buy from brands they feel like they can relate to – it really is that simple.
Simply, the style of your writing, the way you use imagery and your blog layout are some of the elements you can personalise to suit your business.
For example, if you’re in the fashion industry, your tone of voice could be a lot more fun and quirky, whereas in the financial industry, you may need to be a little more serious.
All in all, your blog needs to be full of great content that is written in a way that reflects your company ethos and brand voice, which will help you establish a connection with your desired audience much quicker, as well as maintain brand consistency.
3. Position Yourself as an Expert
Regardless of which industry you’re in, be it selling suede flip flops or a HR service, by sharing your knowledge and expertise through a blog, this will help to build credibility with your audience and position your business as a thought leader in your industry.
Typically, if people have a problem, they quickly head to Google to search for a solution.
And, if you have the expertise to answer people’s questions and solve their problems and pain points, you need to write about it.
By doing so, your blog will include long tail keywords that your target audience are searching for, whilst at the same time, asserting your authority on the subject.
Ultimately, people prefer those who can demonstrate their expertise, and if you can help them without trying to sell to them, you can build trust which will influence their decision to buy from you over a competitor.
And, if you have your customer’s trust, you’re more than half way there to gain their loyalty.
Hence, positioning yourself as an expert through blogging is a huge benefit.
4. Repurpose Blog Content for Social Media
Whenever you create a new article, you are creating content for your social media channels in a couple of ways.
Firstly, your blogs can be shared on sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and more, which exposes your business to a whole new audience that may not know who you are yet.
In other words, it helps to keep your social media presence alive, so if in doubt, share your latest post.
Secondly, you can take key information from your article and generate infographics, such as data or step-by-step information, post quote graphics, create a video or podcast using the blog topic or even create a post series from each paragraph of the article.
5. Long Term Results
One of the biggest benefits of blogging that is often overlooked is that it can bring long term results – blogs can continue to attract new leads and customers for years to come once it’s been published.
In fact, HubSpot reported that over ¾ of their blog views are from older posts, which helps to collect over 90% of their leads.
So, even though you need to be consistent and post blog content regularly, old posts can still remain relevant to your readers for a very long time.
Plus, an old blog post that has gained a good ranking over time can easily be updated to serve new marketing campaigns and goals.
For this reason, it’s good practice to keep old blog posts fresh by updating it with recent data and newer links; small tweaks will help retain its usefulness and continue to bring in high quality leads.
Final Words
Blogging is powerful.
But be warned, this isn’t an opportunity to be promotional, or lay for that matter.
Simply, the goal is to continually add value by publishing informative, well-written articles with customer engagement in mind.
Do so, and you will see an increase in online traffic, grow interest in your product or service and differentiate your business from your competitors.
Overall, the more blogs you produce, the more of the benefits mentioned above you’ll receive.
To find out more, please get in touch today.
In the meantime, take a look at our SEO services to see how we can help.
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