In the age of shiny new social media marketing platforms, the good old blog is often overlooked as a marketing tool. Yet, if done right a blog can become the single biggest tool for your marketing and business success. If your business isn’t blogging yet here are 8 great reasons to start and maintain a blog:
1. It drives traffic
Your website is your identity on the Internet. It’s what lets people know who you are and what you do. The more people visit it, the better the chance of them becoming customers. And there’s no better way to drive traffic to your website than a blog. Consider this, a recent study by inbound marketing firm Hubspot revealed that businesses that blog have 434% more pages indexed by search engines and 55% more traffic to their websites than businesses that don’t. If you blog it, they will come.
2. Establishes credibility and trust
You won’t find a more effective way to demonstrate your expertise than a blog. Blogs by their very nature are more personal and less corporate than a website. And a more personalised connection is key to building trust and credibility. It’s much easier for your customers to relate to you than to a company. Studies show that people who read company blogs are more inclined to trust the advice they receive. And that’s crucial in building brand equity and credibility.
3. Generates leads
For any business to be successful, new business leads are crucial and a blog is a great way to generate leads. A blog doesn’t just help you get leads; it can help you get high quality leads. Your blog attracts people who’re interested in what you’re saying and that means they’ve already had a buy in to what you’re selling. Even more impressive is the fact that blogs can reduce the cost per lead by over 60%.
4. Business Partnerships.
Your blog isn’t just read by potential customers, people in your industry and allied businesses also read it. It’s a tangible reflection of your knowledge and expertise in your industry. So if someone is looking for a business partnership, chances are they’ll tap you for it. Often you’ll find this happen through comments, questions or information requests on a specific blog post you’ve done. And it can be the start of a successful business partnership. Making a blog one of the best virtual referral tools.
5. Feedback.
A blog can become one of the best customer service platforms there is. Blog posts by their very nature invite a response from readers. Making them a great way to generate customer feedback and use that feedback to streamline your products or service. You can respond faster and more efficiently to customer inquiries through a blog than through traditional customer service channels. They are also a great way to update customers on new products or services.
6. Hone your expertise.
The more you write about something, the better you get at it. One of the natural consequences of writing and developing content for a blog is an improvement in your knowledge and expertise about what you do. Blogging prevents you from falling into a rut, if you’ve got to write about it, you’ve got to know it. And the more you write the better you get.
7. It differentiates you
The more information and content you provide your customers, the more you set yourself apart from your competitors. In fact if you’re a small business then chances are not many of your competitors blog so the very fact that you do, sets you apart. And when it comes to deciding who’s the expert in your industry, who do you think customers will go for – the one who’s writing about it, or the one who isn’t?
8. It gives you a voice.
You’re not a business. You’re a person running a business and a blog helps your customers see that. It’s much easier to relate to and connect with a person than a company. And if people can see the person behind the logo they’re more likely to build a relationship with you. Blogging adds a unique personality to your business – it’s written by you, not your company.
So what are you waiting for? If you need a cost effective, easy way to interact with your customers and gain new ones and establish your expertise, get blogging.