Do you want more leads? What about improved search engine rankings? Do you want higher levels of customer engagement?
Of course you do.
While nothing about marketing is easy or happens overnight, creating (and maintaining) a blog can help you accomplish all of these goals. There are so many benefits to adding a blog, but these are the most relevant for most businesses:
Rank for More Keywords
The best way to have your site rank for more keywords is to create more content. Company blogs are a great way to go after long tail keywords in particular.
What questions are your potential customers asking? If you’re not sure where to start, Answer the Public and Google’s Question Hub are excellent resources. Another great way to dig into niches is to look at Facebook groups that your ideal audience has joined.
Find what your target audience is asking for and give them an expert’s answer! The more keywords you rank for, the more likely you are to receive more organic search traffic. Blogs provide value to users and Google (and other search engines, of course).
Don’t forget to audit and update your content regularly for maximum SEO value!
Boost Your Internal Linking Strategy
There are so many advantages to using internal links for both search engines and your users. Internal links make it easier for visitors to navigate your website and encourage them to spend more time on your site, which helps to lower your bounce rate.
Who doesn’t want all the information they need in one place? Save your readers from scrolling through your menu.
Internal linking also creates a better website architecture and helps spread link equity. Link equity—or “link juice,” if you’re into SEO slang—is essentially a page’s authority, trustworthiness, and relevance. If you link to another page, you’re spreading link equity since it will trickle down to the pages that a page links out to.
The link economy is slow-moving but so rewarding.
Encourage Organic Link Building Through Blogging
Can you tell SEO is my specialty if my leading reasons for starting a blog are all SEO-related?
Link building is crucial to improving your search engine results, as well as your website’s DR (domain rating, which is the overall authority score). But building relevant links is hard work. The process requires finding relevant guest blogs, pitching topics to webmasters, creating content, choosing anchor text, and monitoring any guest posts once they’re up.
Organic links are great because they don’t require this process. You don’t have to worry about reaching out and requesting that other websites link back to yours.
So how should you get sites to add links without submitting queries or pitches? Post high-quality, relevant, and interesting content! A blog is a great way to encourage these types of links.
Improving your Google ranking through inbound links is hard work, but a company blog makes it easier. Your business needs a blog to improve its online presence and improve SEO, all of which will get you more traffic.
Make Content You Can Re-Use on Other Platforms
If the SEO benefits don’t convince you to start a blog, just consider how much time you can save by using your blog content on other social media platforms.
Worried about starting a blog because of the time it will take to write fresh content? Don’t be. Just think about the mileage you can get out of a single article. Having blog posts at the ready will make creating a social media calendar a snap!
You can recycle blog posts into copy for a number of projects including:
- Social media posts
- Ads
- Short- and long-form emails
- Newsletters
- Animations
Another option is to convert your blogs into presentations and videos. There are many creative ways to do this. You can use Canva to create free graphics like presentations and pull quotes. Lumen5 is a great resource for creating videos; just enter the text, and the AI system will pull together relevant video clips.
Spend a little time writing a good blog post, and you’ll save yourself time and effort later as you develop your social media presence.
Convert Website Traffic to More Leads
A blog helps convert visitors to leads by providing value. And value is what encourages users to convert. This should come as no surprise considering that 7 out of 10 customers prefer a company’s articles to their ads! (Sorry Peter)
Incorporating CTAs into your blog posts is important. This could look like including a link to a relevant product or adding a button to sign up for your email newsletter. Whatever makes sense for your business and your goals will work.
Another option is to use a free, gated resource. Require new visitors to enter some information about themselves, like their email address and the name of their business, before they can access your valuable, relevant content, and you’ve given yourself another chance to retarget them later.
Begin (and Continue) Conversations with Customers
As a company, one of your goals should be to forge an emotional connection between your brand and your customers. The more engaged a client is, the stronger that emotional connection will be. This is what turns customers into repeat customers.
Engage your customers with a business blog. By choosing relevant topics surrounding popular products, common questions, and more, you’ll have new content people will want to read, comment on, and share on social media.
Give your readers an opportunity to say “I agree” or “tell me more.” Convert your customers into brand ambassadors.
Build Your Email List
Building an email list is one of the best ways to convert traffic into leads. You can create a sales funnel allowing you to target specific types of customers. It’s also a good way to engage with your users and start conversations.
However, getting individuals to sign up isn’t always simple. A blog helps bridge this gap by ensuring that your company is at the forefront of people’s minds.
If they appreciate the information you provide through your blog, chances are they will want to sign up to receive emails whenever you update your blog or have news, sales, and promotions to share.
Further Develop Your Brand’s Voice
Your brand’s voice is what helps you separate you from the pack. A weak or inconsistent voice will confuse or even frustrate your customers. A blog is a great way to reinforce your style and tone so your customers know exactly who you are, what you stand for, and what you sound like.
According to a study by Lucidpress, consistent presentation of a brand has seen to increase revenue by 33 percent.
Look at every blog post as a chance to deepen your connection with your customers, fortify your messaging strategy, and build trust. Sharing the latest industry news, thought leadership pieces, valuable information, and more all help to solidify your image.
While blog posts are great for SEO, they aren’t just about keywords; they should advance your brand’s voice and strengthen your relationships with customers and potential leads at every opportunity.
Establish Authority in Your Niche
Your dream customers want to work with a company that’s a leader in their niche, and what better way to demonstrate your experience and legitimacy than through helpful resources?
A blog can help you stand out from your competition, whether you’re a local business or a worldwide corporation. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Wouldn’t you rather purchase a product or service from a business that demonstrates authority, shares valuable resources, and expands your knowledge?
There are so many advantages to creating blog posts to engage your customers and improve your marketing strategy. If your business doesn’t have an active blog, consider this your sign to dust yours off or to start blogging for the first time. It doesn’t matter if you’re a jewelry store looking to boost your SEO or a healthcare group looking to improve client engagement. Consistent content is one way to accomplish your goals.
Whether you’ve got a blog or not, we can help.
