7 Reasons Why Your Business Should Be Blogging

You own or operate a business. You most likely have a website. Perhaps you even have a Facebook Business page. Your marketing might consist of direct mail, some form of print or broadcast advertising, and maybe even a Yellow Pages listing.

But are you blogging? If not, here are 7 reasons why you should be:

1. A blog draws people to your site – If you provide good content, a blog is one of the best ways to draw people to your web site. Many of us spend a lot of money developing attractive and functional websites. But what good are they if no one visits them? And if you set things up correctly, the blog can also draw people to your other Social Media properties.

2. A blog can help establish you as a thought leader – Whatever business you are in, whether B2B or B2C, you have information to provide to your customers. The information can be about a lot of different things specific or peripheral to your industry. The important thing is to show that you know what you are talking about, and to do so consistently. Finding good blog content isn’t difficult. And previously I’ve provided tips on how you should blog.

3. A blog helps you improve your SEO organically – People are looking for what you are selling or offering. But if they can’t find you online, your competitors who rank higher on a SERP (search engine results page) will get the business. Your job is to get your site to rank higher. A few of the key elements that help improve your rankings include content that changes regularly, traffic volume to your site, and inbound links. Good relevant blog content helps you with all of these. Any edge you can get over your competitors is important, especially in terms of SEO.

4. Blogging can build trust – If you are blogging regularly, and offering free and helpful information, people will begin to trust you. A lawyer, doctor, mechanic (insert your business category here) who offers good advice to potential customers without asking for remuneration, will inspire a spirit of trust. When it comes time for them to actually need your services, to whom do you think they will go?

5. Blogging informs and educates – The best customer is an informed customer. Again, this helps in building that trust. And the double blessing here is that you, too, will learn a lot…about your industry, your business, your customers, and yourself.

6. Blogging helps build leads and conversions – A recent Hubspot study indicates that business that blog experience 126% higher lead growth than non-blogging businesses. This should be rather common sense given the above points regarding building traffic, trust, and SEO. If you blog, you have a better chance at finding quality leads, and then converting those leads into actual customers.

7. If you don’t, someone else will – While Social Media is still somewhat new and experimental for a lot of businesses, this won’t always be the case. Businesses that begin taking advantage of Social Media platforms properly, and get into blogging, may have an advantage.

Clearly, blogging makes sense. I’ve heard many people give excuses such as:

• It’s too time consuming
• It’s difficult to write often
• Who will write the blogs?
• Who will edit/approve the blogs?
• Are there legal issues?
• What if someone makes a negative comment?

Fortunately, these are all hurdles that are easily surmountable. And if you believe in your business and your abilities, it’s worth an investment of time AND money if it brings you more business.

Are you blogging? If not, what’s holding you back?

Tagged as: blogging, Marketing, Social Media