Artist Stefan Stagmeister once noted: “Keeping a journal promotes personal development.” He was reflecting on the growth made possible just by writing. The same is true for modern businesses, just swap the journal out for a diary, and personal development for business growth – now, you have a 21st century friendly formula for why to create a blog for your website.
So why is it important that you start a blog (preferably right now) for your website? You’re about to find out.
Blogging…
Improves Traffic for Your Website
Everyone hates traffic. Unless, of course, you’re in the business of marketing your product or organization. It is indisputable that blogging drives traffic. It’s simple. More blog posts = more landing pages, more landing pages = improved search engine optimization (SEO), improved SEO = more people find YOU.
The more accessible your website is via a search engine, the better your site traffic will be, and this will drive more potential customers to your website, giving you a better opportunity of turning these customers into leads. Once your blog accumulates 51 posts, traffic to it increases by 53%. What happens after that? Traffic increases three times over after you accumulate 100 posts. I’ll assume you’ve already drafted 10 posts…
Not only could you see an increase in traffic due to SEO, but the increased viewership allows for opportunities to self-create even more traffic in the form of social media sharing. If a reader understands and connects with the content on your blog, they can then take the opportunity to share it via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or whatever medium option you provide. This increases potential for other readers to access your website and blog, which means more potential customers. Boom.
Positions You as a Resource and Authority for Knowledge in Your Industry
If a potential customer is searching for a problem that your website or product has the resources to solve and you appear in the top search results, it puts you in a position of authority within your industry. The more information your provide via your blog, the stronger you become as a source of knowledge, and the clearer it is that your business has a strong background in the industry and has the tools for success. Let me ask you this: when paying for a product or service, who doesn’t want to work with the smartest, most well-equipped one available? That’s right, no one.
This also benefits you directly in the form of future leads; the more your visitors read and know about your industry, the more educated they become as potential customers. After they are converted into leads and they come to you to purchase product or service, they are qualified and knowledgeable about what they need, which facilitates your job and ensures a better experience on both ends – and a more likely purchase and return. How likely? Well, according to a 2013 survey done by IgniteSpot, 61% of US consumers reported making a purchase based on a single blog post! Educate those readers and reap the benefit.
Modernizes Your Business
The face of the online business world is changing at a rapid pace, and blogging helps to hold yourself and your employees accountable for remaining competitive and up-to-date in your field. By creating relatable and usable content for readers, it forces all aspects of the company to refocus on the goal of the business, and makes everyone more aware of what you do.
This creation of custom content for your readers has the potential to convert visitors into leads; a 2014 study done by the Custom Content Council reported that 61% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company that delivers custom content they can trust.
Not only does this aspect keep you modern, but it allows you to better understand and express to future customers what you’re going to do for them, how you’re going to do it, and most importantly why you’re doing it. The why aspect of business is too often lost in this modern age, but by blogging about industry happenings and evolvements, you are reminded and will remind your potential customers the reasons for your website, business or product.
Humanizes Your Brand
You can’t refute that a website is a necessary tool for any business today. Potential customers can flip through your website until their hearts are content, but chances are they won’t be finding new or updated information very often. Providing a blog gives your ‘old-fashioned ‘ website a dynamic edge among competitors; it tells your customers what is going on with your business and the industry now and what they can expect in the future.
Blogging gives your website a personality beyond a design template; it gives a voice and creative aspect that allows the customer to determine who your brand is, not just what they do. By incorporating all employees in this, potential customers can get a taste of who they would be working and interacting with, should they choose your product in the decision stage.
Take HubSpot for example. This 300-employee marketing firm allows every single person access to engage with their (really famous) blog. Before you even decide to purchase their software, they allow you the opportunity to interact with anyone within their organization that you could want, and if that’s not personification via blogging, I don’t know what it is.
All in all, this humanization of your brand allows you to create a relationship between the blog and the reader. It is much easier for a reader to trust a human than it is to trust a business, and by providing them with concrete information written by humans, you are much more likely to foster a relationship that makes it easier to turn these readers into leads.
Encourages Interaction and Discussion Within Your Industry
There’s no questioning that blogging allows you to create a medium for two, three, or up to infinity-way discussions about the industry. By allowing comments on your blog posts, readers have the opportunity to engage with questions and comments about their experiences with the topic at hand. Here, you hear not only from potential customers voicing their questions or concerns, but also the experiences and ideas from other leaders in your field, which can help you tweak and develop your answers.
Utilize these comments, feedback, and experiences of others to your advantage. Engage with your potential customers, let them know you are listening to their needs and make it clear that you are taking them into account. Foster relationships with other leaders in your field, study what they are doing and what is and isn’t working. This will only help to better your business.
It’s pretty likely that the competition within your field is tangible, but by creating helpful, custom content and providing it to your readers, you are more likely to stand out and aid yourself in turning those readers into leads.
So that’s that. Those are the five reasons, among countless others, that your website should create and promote its own blog.
What are your thoughts? How do you utilize your business’s blog? Let us know in the comments below.
