“You should have a blog,” they say.
“It will be great,” they say.
“All the big, successful businesses have blogs.”
So you decide to start a blog.
Except, perhaps you’ve never really understood the value of a blog — or why you would need one.
If you’re in any doubt about the value a blog can add to your marketing efforts, read on and I’ll explain.
A blog can be a valuable tool
A blog can have many benefits for your business and is a way to add real value — for your audience and your website.
But the value you get from it will be determined by the value you put into it.
By this, I mean that writing a blog is an important job — one that shouldn’t just be given to the junior. The writing responsibility should be taken by someone who:
- Understands the kind of content your audience needs
- Knows how to do the research
- Writes with skill, clarity and accuracy
- Will be a brand ambassador for your business.
Your blog should have a clear content strategy and communicate consistently, using your brand’s tone of voice. It should feature original, high-quality content, created specifically for your audience.
10 reasons to start blogging
1. Add value to your website
Your website should be a selling powerhouse for your business. Its messages should be slick, streamlined and primed for conversions.
Adding too much detail on your main web pages can muddy your sales message and limit your potential. This is why you need a blog.
A blog is a bit like an overflow. It’s a place where you can add more value for your audience by showcasing all the knowledge and expertise that doesn’t belong on the main pages.
2. Build your expertise and authority
Google favours websites that demonstrate the expertise and authority of the business. The right sort of blog content can help you build both.
Expertise
Creating content that’s relevant for your business and your audience, allows you to show off your expertise. This is the knowledge and experience of your industry your audience wants and expects to see.
Authority
When your expertise is acknowledged and referenced by others, in the form of backlinks and social sharing, you start to build authority.
Posts that will help you to build your authority will be those that, when compared to the best comparable articles, are more:
- Original, informative and valuable
- Authoritative, insightful and analytical
- Substantial, comprehensive and complete.
The higher the authority of your website, the better your ranking potential and the greater your website’s chances of climbing up Google’s results pages.
3. Improve your SEO
Continually updating your website with fresh, original content will help it to rank higher in the search results. This is because:
- Every time you update your website, you give Google a new reason to crawl it and reindex it. Continual reindexing of your site is key to improving or maintain your rank.
- Each blog post adds another page of quality content to your website and gives you another opportunity for your site to appear in the search results.
4. Show you’re current
You can use your blog to show you have your finger on the pulse. Creating content will allow you to jump on the latest trends and talk about current issues, events and happenings in your industry.
Such posts may cover:
- Latest styles and trends
- New technology and innovations
- Changes to policy or legislation
- Forthcoming events or events you have attended.
5. Engage your target market
Your blog is a valuable tool for engaging with your target audience. And, rather than it being a one-way process, it’s interactive.
Every time you put something out there, your followers will be reading it, commenting and asking questions.
It’s a great opportunity to:
- Test ideas for new products or services
- Find out what your customers really want
- Gain feedback and make improvements
- See where your current communications could be improved.
For example, if a particular question is being asked frequently, you could make sure there is an answer on your website.
6. Drive visitors to your website
A new website can take 6 to 12 months to show up in the search results, so promoting it is vital.
But, if your social media posts are all just links to your website, you won’t get many followers or reach.
Blogging helps to drive traffic to your website by offering something new and valuable — and a link to your website.
Each blog post gives you something worthwhile and original to post on social media
When you promote your blog content on social media, your followers will see it and, if it’s good, they might share it too — which nets you a wider audience.
7. Convert website visitors into leads
Getting more website visitors gives you more opportunities to convert those visitors into new leads and customers.
You can do this by adding a call to action to every blog post. For example, it could be:
- A sign-up box for your mailing list
- A sign-up for a free offer or discount
- A signpost link to a sales page on your website.
The hit rate for this will be variable, because not everyone who reads your blog will be a potential lead or customer. And some types of content are naturally better at converting than others.
But you’ll learn as you go and will discover what content works best for you.
8. Get to know your market better
Continually creating and publishing content for your target market can be a valuable learning experience.
You can look at and assess your:
- Post views
- Time on page
- Social engagement
- Shares
- Backlinks
- Conversions.
Understanding what you did right and wrong will help you to continually improve and refine the content you’re putting out there.
9. Provide value for your audience
Understanding what your audience wants and needs to hear from you is key to making sure you’re creating content that delivers — for them and for you. Because content that satisfies their needs is more likely to convert them into customers.
Good content should:
- Answer their questions
- Help them achieve more
- Guide them in decision making
- Educate, entertain and inspire them
- Give them the information they need.
10. Promote your business
As consumers we’re faced with advertising overload.
According to 75 Media, the average consumer in Britain sees more than 5,000 advertising messages every day. Most of these ads are unsolicited and many are simply ignored.
Content marketing has allowed brands to offer something different to conventional advertising: Value.
Promoting your business by creating content helps you:
- Reach more of your target audience and ideal customers
- Create genuine interest in your products or services
- Provide real value rather than just sales patter
- Convert and nurture warm leads.
Do you need quality content?
I’m Jenny Lucas, a freelance copywriter specialising in premium, original blog content that will help you achieve all of the above.
So if you need the content, but don’t have the time or resources to create it yourself, I can do it for you.
For more information, please visit my website, or contact me for an informal chat about your content needs.