If you’ve ever spent any time researching and writing blogs—or hired someone to do it for you—you know blogging can take a lot of time and energy. Perhaps you’ve considered starting a company blog because you’ve heard it can benefit your business. But before you commit, you may wonder if it’s worth the effort and if blogging is still relevant given the rise of social media.
It is and we’ll explain why.
First, take a look at these interesting blogging statistics:
- There are more than 570 million blogson the internet
- Around 7 million blog posts are published per day
- 77% of internet users regularly read blogs
- Over 60% of marketers repost the same content on social media
- Quality content can increase blog traffic by 2,000%
- 61% of U.S. internet users have bought something after reading a blog
These stats clearly demonstrate that blogging is alive and well and can be an effective tool in bringing paying customers to your website. However, before you invest resources into starting a blog, it helps to understand exactly how blogging benefits your business and what kind of ROI you can expect.
Blogging Drives Website Traffic
Each blog post you write is another page on your website for search engines to crawl and index. If you provide good content and know a little about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), your posts could show up on the results pages when people search for related keywords. When that happens, it drives organic (non-paid) search traffic to your website. It also tips off the search engine that your website is active, you regularly post new content, and it should search your website frequently.
Let’s say another organization likes your blog posts and links to them from their website. Not only does blogging increase your visibility and boost your search engine rankings, but the Google algorithm also rewards websites that have inbound links, or backlinks, from other websites by bumping up their rankings. Valid backlinks from credible websites tell the search engine that your website is legitimate, trustworthy, and that you are an authority on your subject.
As your blog pages start ranking higher on the search engine results pages (SERPs), the amount of website traffic you receive will continue to grow over time. The more traffic you get, the more you’ll get in the future, like compound interest or a snowball rolling down a hill.
Blogs Build Your Customers’ Trust
When you write blogs that provide value to your customers, you establish your business as an industry leader and a credible source of information. What is valuable to your customers will vary depending on your industry. Types of blog posts can include:
- Company or Industry News
- Educational Articles
- How To Guides or Videos
- Entertainment
- Interviews
- Lists
- Personal Stories
- Case Studies
If your website is known for providing industry news, you may want to stick with what works. Or you may want to mix and match your blog content…a little of this…a little of that. Either way, if you’re providing valuable content, your customers will appreciate your updates, and the search engines may reward you by bumping up your page rankings.
Most importantly, your customers will grow to trust your professionalism and will be more likely to do business with you.
You Can Repurpose Good Content
Marketers have been saying for years that “content is king.” And well-written, engaging, interesting blog content is marketing gold. Not only can you use it on your blog, but you can also repurpose it for other marketing channels. You can kill two, three, or four birds with one stone, so to speak.
Let’s say you write a blog about current graphic design trends. After you’ve posted the blog on your website, next you take some of that same content to create an email you’ll send to your customer and/or prospect lists. The email includes a link to the full blog post, so it drives organic traffic to your website. And, in the eyes of your readers, it establishes your company as an authority on graphic design trends.
Next, you’ll take the same blog content and create social media posts. Include a link to the full blog on your website, and now you’ve got even more organic traffic. Your social media followers will appreciate learning about new design trends, and if you include hashtags, you may also reach people who aren’t already following you.
If you have an advertising budget, you might also use the same blog content to create digital ads that drive paid traffic to your website. Whether your leads reach your website through organic or paid traffic, once you’ve hooked them with your content, the next step is to convert them into customers.
Promote Your Business and Generate Leads
How do use a blog to generate leads and turn them into customers? It’s easy. Simply include a call to action (CTA) on every blog post. But you don’t want to risk turning off a potential customer, so the CTA can be subtle and located toward the end. After all, you don’t want to detract from your excellent content by being overly sales-y.
Keep in mind, you must give your readers something of value. Maybe it’s an interesting article, a how-to video, an eBook, whitepaper, trial, or free consultation. If you pique their interest and give them engaging content, in return they may agree to share their contact information or even make a purchase.
If they fill out your online form … congratulations! You’ve now generated a new lead and potentially a new customer!
Have we successfully convinced you to start a brand blog? If you need help, just let us know!
