Why Every Company Should Have a Blog 

Blogging is powerful marketing tool. Yet, we still get this question from many entrepreneurs and Business owners- “Why would I need a blog, when I already have a website?”

The misconception around is that it is extremely difficult to set up a blog and that maintain it. Here are a few stats that will convince you otherwise:

70% of consumers learn about a company through its blog versus ads.

61% of consumers have made a purchase based on a blog post that they read.

60% of consumers feel positive about a company after reading its blog.

If you’re not blogging, it’s time to get started or get left behind. If you need a bit of inspiration, here are reasons why you should be blogging

A Blog means More Traffic to Your Website

Who does not want more visitors trooping in to their websites? Good, we thought as much. So how can these visitors find you? Through blogging, search engines and social media.

In blogging, with every post you create, you get an indexed website meaning another opportunity for you to show up in the search engines and drive traffic to your website. Blogging also thrusts you into social media since with every blog post you create and is shared on social media, you are exposing your business to a new audience that may not know you yet.

 It helps convert that traffic into leads.

Having known how to drive in traffic, the next step is to turn the traffic into leads. This you can do by adding lead-generating call-to-action to each blog post you create.

What happens is this- a visitor comes to your website, reads the blogs and sees the call-to-action for a free offer. They click and lands to a page where they get to fill in with their information. They fill out the forms and receive the free offer. Visitor fills out form, submits information, and receives the free offer. That is how one turns traffic coming to your blog into leads for your sales team.

Sets You as an Authority

If you have noticed, the business blogs that have cut a niche above the others often tend to answer burning questions that customers and leads have. If you want to be counted as an authority, you must create useful content and do so consistently. This is particularly true for service and sales professionals.

Imagine a customer struggling to understand your product and service getting a blog post from you educating them or clearing things up about the said service or product- how handy!

Blogging can boost your sales

If leads can find solutions to their common questions via blog posts written by people at your company, they’re much more likely to come into the sales process trusting what you have said in your blog.

Prospective customers that have been reading your blog posts will confidently enter the sales process more educated on your place in the market, your industry, and what you have to offer. This means the sales process becomes more productive as compared to that held between relative strangers.

Salespeople who in the sales process encounter specific questions that require in-depth explanation or a documented answer can pull from an archive of blog posts. This further cements them as a helpful resource to their prospect.

Generates long-term results

Take this example- you sit and write a blog post for your business today. The post get you 15 leads and 100 views the same day; the next day it gets you 10 leads and 80 views on your site while others find the blog on social media.

The fanfare might die down after a day or two but if it had tight content and you maximized on relevant keywords, the post will rank in search engines and in the coming days, weeks, months, and years to come, you can continue to get traffic and leads from that blog post.

To add to the perks, blogging can be monetized in many creative ways. With affiliate marketing models, you can earn from blogging on just about any topic – from makeup and beauty to vehicles. Most of your sales are likely to come from older posts. Almost 70% of the traffic each month on most blogs comes from posts that weren’t published in the current month. They are referred to as “compounding” posts. However, not every blog post fits into this category.

It gives your Brand a voice

A blog gives you the platform to share your brand with prospects and established clients. Through a blog, you can talk about news topics or market trends; introduce new products or services, share company initiatives and many others.

By writing a blog, you share your expertise and position yourself as a thought leader. A blog is a great way that involves everyone on board, the brand, industry peers, leads and customers, prospects and industry peers. It is fun, energizing, encourages interaction, comments and feedback.

Additionally…

Blog writing inspires you to think…since you need to come up with newsworthy topics, your industry, your customers and the world around you

Blogs are cost-effective marketing strategies. Every post you publish is a long-term investment that helps build brand awareness and promote your expertise, products and services.

Blogging stirs inspiration. Through blogging, you will start to see ideas all around you through talking with friends and colleagues, reading, and just observing.

Blogging sharpens your business focus. Through the blogging, you get to define your goals and stay focused on that in your posts. A blog with focus attracts readers.

You can tell your brand’s story through blogging. Your leads and audiences get to have more insight about your company, philosophy, employees, and ideas. This is because you get tell them why you’re in business and how you can help them.

It creates Business bloggers are often interviewed by journalists as industry experts and thus blogging offers free PR.

Blogging helps you stay ahead of the curve. This you do by staying on top of news, trends and competitors to be a successful blogger. It helps you be a leader, not a follower.

Allows you to have insight into your audience; through blog analytics, you get to track readers, click-through, popular topics, shares and comments.

Finally…

Convinced why you need a blog? That sounds nice! Here are tips on a few functions and features a blog should include?

Opt for a minimalist format; try and keep things simple. My advice is to preferably maintain a 2 column template design.

Host it on your website domain; avoid using a word press or type pad domain especially if you want to improve your own website’s domain.

SEO not Type pads, Tumbler or WordPress.com and have control over the site.

You Menu must include to Include:

-About us

-Home back to your company website

-Your Subscription should be via an RSS Feed and Email

Are you starting out in Business blogging or you are already well underway? If you are starting, did you find the information in the guide above hopeful? If you had started already, what works for you? Share your thoughts on business blogging below and what you’re looking to get out of it.