In the early days of the Internet, blogging was a hobby you do after work when you have time to spare and blog articles were sources of information secondary to newspapers. Now, however, with over 6.7 million blogging websites and 128 million blog readers in the United States alone, blogs are rivaling mainstream media as the primary way people are finding and consuming information. Therefore, if you don’t have a blog for your business yet, you should. Here are five important reasons why blogging for your business is one of the most important components of your advertising strategy.
1. Increase your sales
Although blogs don’t directly promote your product, that doesn’t mean that blogs aren’t integral to your marketing strategy. In fact, according to 2014 blogging statistics, 92 percent of companies that blog multiple times per day have acquired a customer from their blog and 61 percent of U.S. online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from a blog. These statistics show that blogs not only generate more sales leads but also significantly influence consumers’ purchasing decisions.
Brands that create blog articles that answer a common question or solve a problem in their industry are more likely to be discovered on a Google search, thus increasing their online exposure to people who are looking for information at the exact moment they are willing to pay for a solution.
2. Drive more traffic to your site
Combining your blogging strategy with your SEO strategy dramatically increases your site’s Google rank because of two reasons: industry authority and inbound links. When you have a business blog, you are showing that you are an expert in your industry, which means that your site has 434 percent more indexed pages and are 97 percent more likely to get inbound links because people will be citing you and your content. Therefore, they’ll link back to your blog article, which is a signal to Google that you are the authority on the subject.
Of course, you’ll need to publish quality blog content in order to gain people’s attention. Therefore, when you are generating blog topics, think about what your readers want to read and share with other people. In addition, include keywords relevant to your business and industry in order to boost your Google rankings for those words.
3. Display excellent customer service
When you blog, you are not only publishing content for your readers but you are also allowing your readers to leave you feedback in your comments section. Blogs encourage interaction amongst your brand, your customers, and other people in your industry, thus enabling you to gain valuable feedback on what your business can be doing better for your customers and the topics your readers want to know more about.
Responding to your readers’ comments and implementing their suggestions are small but important ways to show your audience that you care about their opinion, and these little details are what engender brand loyalty with your audience.
4. Improve your business’s performance
Blogs are incredibly useful in measuring your readers’ interest in your content and product. Having a blog on your site enables you to track readers’ behavior on your site through your site analytics. Therefore, analyze your readers’ behavior in order to improve their experience on your website.
If your blog post has a lot of drop offs or people only spend a couple of seconds on the page, it is probably because they aren’t finding what they were expecting. Therefore, go back to the drawing board and brainstorm other blog topic ideas to see whether those would generate more interest. Conversely, if an article keeps people on the site, analyze the topic and keywords you used in the article to improve your blogs and recalibrate your marketing strategy.
5. Create a memorable brand
Let your blogs be an opportunity for you to show your customers who you are as a company and what your brand culture is like. Not only are people less likely to buy from a corporation they know nothing about but they are also more likely to purchase the lifestyle associated with the product than the actual product itself. In fact, 59 percent of people buy brands that reflect their style and personality.
Therefore, give people a reason to follow your blogs. Stand out from your competition by giving your brand a unique voice, and then use this voice when writing your blogs. Remember that your blogs should be customer-focused, so highlight their interests and target their personality when creating your content.
Creating engaging and useful content is one of the best ways to promote your brand to your audience, and even though blogging requires an extensive amount of time and research, the benefits are well worth the effort.