In 1994, then-student Justin Hall created the first-ever blog to publish his thoughts. By 1999, there were 23 active blogs online. By 2006, there were 50 million. But blogging isn’t just about creating an online space to vent. Studies have shown that blogs can be a powerful marketing tool for small businesses.
In fact, it’s said that companies who regularly upload blog posts produce an average of 67% more leads per month than those that don’t. In addition, in 2019, marketers who prioritised blogging reported receiving 13X more ROI (return on investment) than companies that didn’t.
And it makes sense. As consumers, we prefer to know who we’re giving our money to, and blogs provide an air of familiarity. A blog grants small businesses the chance to showcase their personality and seduce their audience with their tone of voice (TOV). Tips for perfecting your brand’s TOV can be found here.
Without further ado, here are five reasons why you should start a business blog today.
Blogs Advertise Your Expertise
Starting a blog and consistently uploading industry-relevant content is an effective way of making your brand look knowledgeable and well-established in the marketplace.
Since a blog is essentially a platform for you to share and develop your knowledge with customers or other business owners, blogging gives you a chance to show off your expertise. This demonstration of expertise grants your brand a certain level of industry clout as well as credibility amongst your target audience.
But painting yourself as a voice of authority in your industry doesn’t mean you have to rigidly stick to a singular topic.
For instance, if your business sells bikinis, you could write blogs about the most on-trend swimsuit styles, how to choose the right bikini for your body shape, or even travelling tips.
Some of the most successful company blogs feature posts covering a vast array of topics that could appeal to all members of their target audience.
Airbnb – true pioneers of holiday booking platforms – are a prime example of a business that understands the power of blogging. They run a fantastic blog with extensive categories and topics relating to travelling, culture, and guides to becoming an Airbnb host.
Fuel Your Social Media
So you’ve got your business’ social media pages up and running, but you’ve fallen into a dreaded content drought. Don’t worry; it happens to the best of us.
Blogging can help with this. Every blog post is a content idea. If you’re consistently publishing blog pieces, you will always have content for your social media pages.
Compile a list of key topics and keywords you wish to target, then make a blog content calendar. After this, all you need to do is structure your social media content around this blog calendar. Easy, peasy.
Not to mention, blogs are a great way to organically spread the word about your business on social media. People interested in what you’re writing about will share/like your content, increasing brand exposure and driving traffic to your website.
Blogging Boosts Your SEO
One of the most significant benefits of running a business blog is the SEO potential.
If you’re unfamiliar with this acronym, don’t worry too much. You don’t need to be an expert to use it.
SEO (search engine optimisation) is essentially the process of improving traffic to your blog or company website through organic search engine results. That means that you are trying to tick all the search engine and keyword boxes so that your site will show up when your target audience searches for a specific product or service.
To explain, I will assume that we are all using the search engine, Google (because who on Earth is using anything else?).
So, Google has a process of monitoring and collecting all content available on the internet. Google feeds this data (in the form of an index) into an algorithm that then attempts to find a match for the question or topic a person is searching for.
Blog features such as your domain name, descriptions, headings, etc., all help boost your content up the index, making it easier for the searcher to find.
If SEO sounds a bit technical, don’t worry. Many blogging platforms come with a whole host of easily accessible SEO features, such as our preferred blogging site, WordPress. With a WordPress blog, all you need to do is install a few plug-ins to make sure your content is SEO-friendly. Perfect for beginner bloggers with limited SEO experience.
Build A Relationship With Your Audience
I believe it is the Bible that says something along the lines of ‘the written word is trustworthy’. Obviously, this is a reference to the word of God written in scripture. But it also relates to marketing.
For businesses, running a blog makes you seem like a reputable and trustworthy source of information. In this sense, blogging can help develop a much more personal relationship with customers.
Unlike most traditional forms of advertising, blogs aren’t trying to blatantly sell a product or service. Instead, blogs are designed to be helpful and friendly. With a lil’ sales pitch sprinkled in here and there, of course.
If you’re a business that regularly publishes high-quality blogs, you’re demonstrating that you understand who your demographic is. Not to mention, you are showing that you’re willing to cater your content to suit the needs or likes of this audience. That makes you a business they can trust.
Blogging Generates Leads
Finally, the main – and arguably most important – reason that you should be blogging as a small business is that it’s a huge source of lead generation.
On the surface, a blog is all snazzy words and pretty pictures. But the principal purpose of a blog is to draw attention to a product or service.
Tactfully inserting a call to action (CTA) at the end of your blog post is a way to drive home that you mean business. A CTA can be to suggest the reader visit your website or subscribe to your email newsletter. Whatever your goal, it’s essential to always include a CTA without overdoing it.
Be simple. Encourage the reader to take action, don’t outright demand that they do. And if your content was interesting and helpful enough, why wouldn’t they want to find out more about your business?
So there we have it. Five reasons why ALL small businesses should blog.
Blogging can be hard work sometimes; we’ll be the first to admit it. But there’s plenty of resources out there for aspiring business bloggers.
Or maybe, you’re not a natural writer? That’s fine. We’ve got a whole team of ‘em here to help at DMT.
DMT is a digital marketing team based in the heart of Manchester. If you’re interested in seeing how we can help your business succeed online, get in touch, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
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