The short answer? Yes!
Blogs aren’t just those personal web-diaries that were uber popular in the early 2000s. For businesses today, a blog is a marketing channel all on its own. Like we’re doing here, blogging allows businesses to publish consistent, informative, and interesting content for your audience. This is helpful to both brands and consumers. Additionally, Hubspot reported that around 60% of people read blogs on a weekly basis. That’s a huge market for businesses to tap into to cultivate loyal and lasting customers.
Here are the 3 top reasons why your business needs a blog:
1. Blogs add value.
Regular blog posts should provide helpful information about your product or service and your industry at large. This can include company history, how-to steps (or videos), and answers to frequently asked customer questions. A blog is also a great way to share more information about new product launches, events, and other company news (after having made brief yet eye-catching announcements on your social media channels). Providing this valuable content for your audience will promote brand awareness, fortify your company as an industry leader, and strengthen a loyal relationship between you and your audience.
Think of your blog as the key to developing a more personal relationship with your customers and clients. Instead of just selling them a product, you’re educating and engaging your audience, thereby turning your blog’s readers into marketers all their own as they learn more about your brand, share your content on social media, and start to build organic, authentic buzz for your brand.
2. Blogs boost SEO.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing traffic (the number of visitors) to your website. Whether you’re selling handmade holiday cards or private Pilates sessions, a typical webpage isn’t updated all that often. A blog, however, is added to monthly, weekly, or even more frequently. Adding to your feed creates new indexed pages on your website and increases the likelihood that your blog will show up on a search engine results page.
To maximize SEO, it’s important to make sure your blog is readable and navigable; Use conversational language over industry-speak, ensure that all hyperlinks are functional, and include keywords that harmonize with your business and target audience.
3. Blogs promote growth.
Blogging is a relatively inexpensive marketing tool compared to social media advertising, mailers, and email marketing. And yet, it has the potential to yield remarkable returns on investment. Along with engaging and informative content, strategic calls to action (shop, get in touch, share your feedback, sign up here, etc.) can help turn your readers into leads—and hopefully into loyal clients and customers! When your content adds value to readers’ lives, they will gain trust in your brand and be more likely to purchase your goods and services.
But don’t take blogging for granted! While blogs don’t require a lot of capital to get them up and running, they do require time, energy, and strategic planning. With over 600 million blogs on the Internet, audiences don’t have time for fluff. It’s a good idea to plan content in advance, leaving extra time for review, revision, and any other responsibilities that spring up at the last minute.
Click here to learn how to kickstart your brand’s blog so that you can add value for your customers, maximize SEO, and promote growth for your business.
