5 Reasons your business should blog
Some people seem to be under the impression business blogs are a little yesteryear. But don’t be fooled. Just because there isn’t the same level of hype about them when they were a brand spangly new phenomenon, doesn’t mean they’re not working away in the background earning the clever businesses that are utilising them well, excellent value for money. Business blogs are now an integral part of content strategy in mainstream marketing campaigns, so if you’re not yet writing a business blog of your own, you should be.
There are lots of reasons your business should get blogging, but here are 5 to get you started.
A well-written business blog allows you the time and space on your website to tell visitors everything you want them to know.
Writing website copy isn’t easy. You want to tell visitors everything about you so that you don’t miss a single potential lead. But here’s the rub, unless your offer is spectacularly unique for a very niche audience, you can’t speak to everyone with every word you write. Web copy needs to be short and snappy to grab attention quickly before visitors click away to another site.
That’s where a business blog can come in very handy. You can have an entire section of your website dedicated to the nitty gritty. Blogs can be populated with more information about you, your business, your customers, your opinions, and your industry. Even if you feel you don’t have enough to say to fill a blog, believe me, you do!
And it’s not overkill because readers that land on your blog are likely looking for specific answers to a problem, or a question they have, and will select the blog most relevant to them.
A blog is your chance to share more of your personality with your audience than you ever can in a few short pages of snappy copy that make up the body of your website.
2. Offer advice, training, and tips online
Whatever the service or product you’re selling, people buy from people they trust. A well-written business blog allows you to show off your expertise to potential customers, without flooding the body of your website with words. Some companies I have worked with are nervous at first about giving too much away for free, but they soon see that by building credibility and trust online, they are encouraging more enquiries that lead to valuable and long-lasting relationships.
And no amount of words on a page will ever be the same the same as them buying your product or service. For example, home improvement companies might share some top DIY tips for the simple jobs around the home, but there will always be people that will prefer to employ someone to come and do it for them, and they’re more likely to pick up the phone to you if they have found you open and honest online. In this same example, there will also always be home improvement projects that are too big for people to take on themselves, so they will want to outsource.
3. Create a community or network
One of the best ways to generate leads is by building a network of like-minded people. When we feel like we are surrounded by similar people in a similar situation to our own, we’re more likely to engage in the conversation and act on the issues at hand. A business blog on your website that encourages people to share their views, and perhaps includes contributions from relevant third parties, can provide a safe space for everyone to share ideas, problems, and solutions. By being the creator of this network, you put your business at the center of a hub of activity. Playing on the Fear of Missing Out phenomenon, people won’t want to miss what you have to say and won’t forget the company that brought them this community.
4. Reach further than your locality
All I have known in my working life is marketing and I honestly believe in using a range of marketing tactics for best results. But different mediums have different benefits and downsides and offline techniques do have a more limited reach. For example, a feature in a trade magazine might hang around in an office of your relevant target market for a couple of months if you’re lucky but will soon be filed or recycled. An advert in your local paper might speak to just the right person when it lands, but if the need isn’t there at that moment, it will be missed and never referred to again. Online activity on the other hand is here to stay.
Blogs especially tend to be used as more of a resource for people doing research, and it doesn’t matter whether they know you or not, whether they are directly involved in your industry or not, or whether they are local to you or not. It also doesn’t matter if a particular blog post is a couple of years old – if it answers their query, it gets used.
When you think that 85% of people research online before making a purchase, you start to see the far-reaching scope for publishing more content on your website and making the most of this first step in the customer journey
5. Boost your business
Last, but certainly not least, blogs are good for business! It can be difficult to buy into blogging when the results aren’t always a direct click of a button to buy, but building your online reputation holds a lot of value. A well-written and consistently produced business blog commands interest and will generate more enquiries in the long-run. The statistics speak for themselves.
There are a whole host of benefits to having a business blog but even if you are totally sold on the idea of producing regular content for your website, it’s not always easy to do. The day to day running of the business gets in the way, and with the very best intentions, it slips down the priority list. If this sounds like you, outsourcing a copywriter to write your business blog could be a good option to allow you to have your cake and eat it!
Writer of smart, engaging copy for businesses that understand the importance of great copy, but struggle to find the time to give it the attention it needs. I offer a proactive approach to deliver fresh content.
