Analysis proves there is a strong correlation between businesses with active blogs and online sales. Companies that blog regularly earn as much as 67% more monthly leads compared to those that don’t.
But first, what is a blog? In short, it’s a collection of articles that form part of a business’s website. These articles have an informative or entertaining purpose, rather than being directly sales-driven.
Blogs are important for a variety of reasons including increased sales, additional leads, and overall brand awareness. Keep reading as we explore these reasons while providing a variety of blogging tips.
Blogging Improves SEO Performance
One of the most significant reasons as to why blogging supports business operations is its relationship with SEO. Frequent blog updates are a cost-effective way for businesses to ensure high search result rankings. Google and other search engines reward sites that regularly post content.
Another way that blogs help with SEO is with long-tail or highly specific keyword search terms. Businesses should use their blogs as a way to preempt widespread questions related to their products and industry.
Business owners and marketers need to consider the specific, but common queries typically searched for. Google rewards businesses that post articles dedicated to such questions because of the value provided to the web searcher by a subject matter expert.
Blogging tips:
- When creating blog content, remember to use keywords throughout articles. These should also go in the headings and meta descriptions.
- It’s also important to prioritize evergreen content. This means posts that will not quickly become outdated and irrelevant.
Blog content is primarily informative. Yet this doesn’t rule out the potential for sales. Businesses can use their blog articles as a way to position their brand as the answer to the visitor’s ‘problem’.
Calls to action and an internal linking strategy are crucial elements of any article. These encourage new visitors to explore the rest of the site and consider making a purchase.
Blogging Builds Brand Reputation
Next, the importance of blogging for branding should not be underestimated. Blogs enable businesses to position themselves as industry experts. Businesses can use blogs as a part of a content marketing strategy to demonstrate both experience and knowledge by publishing a wide range of articles that answer common questions and provide helpful resources.
A blog section of a website should also provide troubleshooting information. Depending on the company, this could cover using the business’s products or services. Such articles provide resources for the support and sales staff looking for answers to specific questions. Meanwhile they also give potential customers a glimpse of the excellent customer experience they can expect if they choose you as a service provider.
Finally, blogging allows businesses to discover their brand voice. By writing content for their target audience, businesses can gain a deeper understanding of who they’re talking to. They can also reflect on how they want to be perceived.
Likewise, article content allows potential customers to get to know a business. Whether the aim is to come across as friendly, funny, intelligent, or casual, this can be done via content marketing.
Blogging Strengthens Customer Relationships
Another way that blogging helps drive online sales is by building relationships. Blogs allow customers to better know your brand while helping to cultivate a relationship between consumer and company.
A blog filled with informative articles develops the trustworthiness of a company. It promotes the idea that a business genuinely wants to help people. Accordingly, resources are shared for free rather than being a purely sales-driven operation.
We cannot neglect to mention the importance of blog commenting. Blog comment sections help to create a community on the website itself, with different visitors reacting to the blog content. This potential for customer engagement is a gold mine for businesses in 2021.
Businesses should aim to create a space for people to interact with each other and the blog content. This indicates that they are a trustworthy leader in their industry.
Furthermore, blog comments allow a community manager to interact with people commenting. Questions and positive and negative reactions can be responded to.
Blogging Compliments Wider Digital Marketing Strategies
From a high level perspective, blogging provides material for a business’s broader digital marketing strategy. A blog section of a website is a fantastic source of content for other forms of online outreach.
The release of a new article is prime content for social media posts and email communication. Blogging helps to tie together the diverse forms of digital marketing employed. Meanwhile, blogs strengthen the sense of community between existing and potential customers. This is done via shares, likes, and comments on social media.
Finally, the more articles featured on a website, the greater the chance for this content to be shared through both social media and other websites. A business with high-value content can easily ask other platforms to host links to their site.
That’s Why Blogging Is Important For All Businesses
We’ve explored many reasons why a blog is an essential part of a website for businesses. Ultimately, blogging is important to span the entire marketing funnel by attracting new customers, developing their brand and building relationships with existing customers.
Our expert team at VujaDay can help you put in place a thorough digital marketing strategy. Besides content marketing services, we can also assist with SEO and social media marketing. For more information about how we can help your business thrive online, get in touch here.