Blogging has become a significant part of online marketing campaigns over the years. What started out as an individual, tentative practice that relied on advertising to generate revenue has now become “content marketing,” an activity that has great benefits to both businesses and users. In this article, we’re going to cover some of these benefits and make the case for why your website needs its own blog.
1. Build trust by showing expertise in your field
People read business blogs in order to gain insight into an area that is of interest to them. This will usually be an area that is within your industry and somehow related to your product or service. In order for the blog post to be compelling to your target audience, it will need to contain novel information, or complex information presented in an appealing format. Both of these content styles will help you establish your brand as an authoritative source within your industry, and build trust with your audience.
2. Improve your overall customer experience
Since the focus of your blogging is to provide novel, useful information to potential customers, or answer questions they may have regarding certain issues, you are increasing the value of your overall service and improving your customers’ experience. When customers enjoy the experience of visiting your site and interacting with your brand, they are likely to do so again in the future, which means that they are more likely to make a purchase.
3. Search engine optimization
Search engine optimization or SEO is a long term online marketing strategy that targetstsearch engines such as Google or Bing with the aim of reaching a top position in search results. One of the key practices in SEO is blogging and using keywords in the body of the text. With regular blogging you can ensure long-term, lasting client acquisition through SEO alone, even if the content itself does not convert visitors on your site.
4. Email collection
Converting someone from a cold prospect to a sale can be quite difficult, depending on the industry, so most businesses will break down the sales process into several steps. If this is the case for your company, you can use blogging as a way to collect the email addresses of potential customers and then convert them over time using newsletters, email marketing and special offers. Just leave a call-to-action at the end of your blog posts, and they will start gathering emails from interested users over time.
5. Demand generation
Depending on how you set up your content strategy, you are likely to draw in visitors to your website who are not interested or aware of the services and products you offer. Let’s say you have a software product that makes it easier for HR managers to do their jobs, and you have several articles that talk about how to solve some common problems that people in the HR department may have. This indirect way of presenting your offer to a customer that was not even aware of your type of product or service offers an extra avenue for conversions and sales.
6. Backlink generation
Another key element in SEO is the backlink. Backlinks, or inbound links, are links leading to your blog from other websites. These links signal to the search engine that your blog is authoritative, genuine, and that it provides value to others. You can get backlinks from a variety of sources, including other websites, blogs and social media accounts. All you need to do is provide quality, novel information to your readers, and they will feel compelled to share your content.
7. Increase brand awareness
Traditional methods of generating brand visibility can be expensive, with a limited range of benefits. Blogging however, can pack all these other benefits along with increased brand visibility in a very cost effective package. Brand visibility is a top of the sales funnel factor that affects the pool of available potential customers. The more people you have at this stage of the sales process, the bigger the pool you can convert from further down the line.
Are you interested in setting up your own blog?
Business blogs come with a plethora of benefits for a relatively small investment. They are also an inbound lead generation mechanism, and inbound leads convert at higher rates than outbound leads. If you are interested in starting your own business blog, contact us today, and we will answer any questions you may have.
