Why Blogging is Important for Business
“Should I start a blog on my business website?”
It’s a question that we are often asked by potential clients or attendees at SEO workshops, as they wonder if it will help to improve their visibility in the search engines.
The short answer is YES, blogging is important for business for a number of reasons – and not just to help increase your website traffic.
However, if you’re going to head down the blog path, remember that anything worth doing is worth doing well, or at least with a solid purpose in mind. Let us explain.
Why Blog for Business?
There are all different types of blogs out there, and a quick Google search will provide you with helpful tips for personal blogs, fashion blogs, educational blogs, micro blogs, fiction blogs, enthusiast blogs, news blogs, poetry blogs, hobby blogs, review blogs, entertainment blogs … really, the sky is the limit.
However today we want to look at why a business blog is worth considering as part of your overall marketing strategy.
- A blog can be a great way to answer common questions from your audience. We’ve done it a few times here at Front Page SEO (like right now)! That way, when an email comes in, instead of having to launch into a fresh explanation of why SEO takes so long (or whatever their question might be), you can simply direct them to the relevant blog post.
- A blog can help to establish your business as an expert or authority in your field. Both Google and your users are looking for signs that you know your stuff!
- A blog is an opportunity to build trust and even relationships with your customers and clients, particularly if you invite comments or feedback.
- Visitors to your website will form a positive impression of your business, when they see recent posts. How many times have you visited a website, only to notice the last update was over two years ago? You may be left wondering if they are even still in business!
- A blog is a way of serving your audience, and giving them extra value, as you provide them with information that they need.
- A blog can help your business stay front of mind for your customers. They may not be ready to purchase yet, but when the time comes – your business will be the one they think of. You can set up an email newsletter to be released automatically, advising your database whenever you publish a new post.
- Think of every new blog post as another potential doorway to your website. And the more doorways you have, the more chance that somebody will find them and come on in!
With all these advantages, why would any business NOT have a blog?!
The biggest hurdle to blogging for most business owners, is the amount of time and effort required. And UNLESS your website has the foundations in place, why waste your time on something that is not going to be effective?
When done properly however, blogging can be a great magnet for drawing those clicks and clients to your business website.
Get the Most Bang for your Buck!
Time is limited, but there are ways to get even more value out of a business blog.
For example, you can set up an email newsletter (eg through Mailchimp) to automatically notify your database of your latest blog post – another great way to draw web traffic. Just seeing your email in their inbox, will help remind your audience of your business!
Or you could check out something like what one of our clients, Australian Customs Clearance have done – automating the process so the latest news from their industry is regularly published on their business blog.
There are so many other ways that you could re-purpose your blog content … but that’s a blog post for another time.
And … if blogging’s not your forte, our team can write optimised, engaging content to help your business rise to the top of search engine results so you get more clicks and clients! Contact us to find out more today.