Still don't have a blog? 8 things you're missing out on
If you’ve thought about starting a blog for your business but are not completely sure if you actually need one, read on.
To really understand the impact blogging can have on your business, let’s look at three statistics:
Businesses that blog get twice as much email traffic as businesses that don’t
77% of Internet users regularly read blog posts
60% of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority. Source: HubSpot
In other words:
If your competitor has a blog but you don’t, they’re getting 50% more people going to their website than to yours
Whether you blog or not, 77% of people on the internet are reading blogs. Might not be your blog, but they’re reading someone’s blog
60% of marketers have it as their top priority. And they’re the experts
If we can take one thing away from those three statistics, it’s that visitors to your site expect you to have a blog. Here are 8 more reasons why every business, small or large, needs a blog. At the end of this post, you'll find a free blog post template you can use right away.
Here are 8 things you can enjoy if you have a consistent and engaging blog:
1. Blogging drives more traffic to your website
The more you blog, the more content Google (and other search engines) has to crawl and index. All that means is that every time you publish a blog post, you add another indexed page to your site, which gives Google more space to cover when it searches for relevant content.
The more content you have, the easier it is for Google to recognise your authority on a subject, and that your site is a reliable source of resource and information for others.
Sound too good to be true?
Does that mean all you need to is constantly push out content and sooner or later, Google will bump your site up to the first page? Not quite. Google only prioritises high-quality content that shares useful and reliable information from reputable sources.
Google is much more sophisticated than it was during the era of keyword stuffing, and there are lots of brands still getting penalised for it. Instead, it searches for useful, high-quality content that matches people's searches.
2. High-quality content gets backlinks
If your content is shareable, you’ll have an even bigger opportunity to drive more traffic to your website, and Google rewards you for that.
Creating content that’s digestible, easy to read and useful encourages visitors to share it with their connections, which helps you reach a wider group.
A Hubspot study showed that businesses who blog receive a whopping 97% more links to their websites from other online sources, which means the more people are talking about your content, the bigger your audience gets.
3. Blogging makes it easier to convert traffic into real leads
Now that your blog is bringing in more traffic to your website, you can start converting visitors into real leads. But simply having a blog isn’t enough to convert those readers into leads. Frustratingly, getting people to your website is only half the battle.
Page views, likes, comments and LinkedIn shares are all well and good but none of them reaches your main goal, which is to convert traffic into real leads. In fact, around 97-98% of visitors to your website will leave without taking any form of action.
Now, that doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong! Your content is attracting visitors, which is the first step. They may even be interacting with it, but they’re leaving without a trace, and you’re left with nothing but vanity metrics.
So, how are you supposed to get all that nice traffic to your website and convert it into real, paying customers?
By simply asking them.
Wait, isn't that salesy and pushy?
No! A successful blog should have a CTA at the end of every post and it will depend on your business goal. You might ask your readers to sign up to something, download something, click, install, subscribe, etc.
Whatever you want your visitors to do, just ask them to do it. They're already there and interested, aren't they? Blog posts are perfect opportunities to give your audience more and keep them engaged with you.
Neil Patel’s post on how to convert blog readers into leads goes into a ton of detail and shares great examples of real tactics you can use for your own blog.
4. Blogging goes hand in hand with thought leadership
One of the key reasons why businesses decide to start a blog is because they want to be recognised as key thought leaders in their industry.
The best business blogs answer potential customers’ questions, discuss industry trends, takes a stance, and provide useful information and resources. That’s because while the quality of your service/product might be exceptional, it’s not usually enough to stay relevant.
When people look for answers to their problem, they typically turn to a search engine. When this happens, you want your website to come up on their search results and help them resolve their issue.
Having an updated and consistent blog that shares valuable and useful information achieves that, and is a solid way to make yourself known in your field.
5. Grow your email list
You’ve probably heard that email marketing is hot right now, and that’s because it’s still one of the most effective marketing strategies to convert prospects into customers.
Having a blog can help you grow your email list in two simple ways:
Not only does consistent blogging help you rank higher on search engines and bring more traffic to your website, but in doing so, it gives you the opportunity to convert more site visitors into newsletter subscribers.
You can turn your favourite blog posts into eye-catching lead magnets, which you can use in your opt informs to entice new subscribers to your newsletter.
6. Blogging encourages interaction within your audience
We’ve covered web traffic, ranking higher on Google and becoming a source of authority in your industry. But at the very least, running a consistent blog helps you to create an online community and build meaningful relationships with customers and people in your industry.
While your website is there to attract customers and make sales, a blog creates opportunities for two-way interaction between you and your customers. One easy way that you can encourage communication between your audience and customers is by posing questions at the end of your blog post.
7. Having a blog boosts your social media presence
So you already know that in order to build a community and stay relevant in your industry, you need to be on social media.
But posting consistent content is harder than it sounds, and every now and then, you’re going to run out of interesting content to share.
That’s where your blog comes in. You can repurpose a long-form blog post into a shareable infographic and post it on your feed. If you’ve just posted something new on your blog, extract the best point from it and share a snippet on your social accounts with the right hashtags and links for followers to read the full post.
There are so many ways to link your blog to your social media account and drum up more engagement, which leads us to the next point.
8. A consistent blog keeps customers engaged
The last thing you want is for a customer to buy something and then vanish. When someone makes a purchase (or performs any kind of CTA with your brand), you want to keep them engaged for as long as possible to ensure you stay front-of-mind in the future.
A consistent blog with high-quality content will build that relationship and keep people interested in your business, long after they’ve given you the sale. By offering useful guides, case studies, round up posts and how-tos, you slowly become a trustworthy and reliable resource for your audience.
The power of blogging: generate leads and convert more prospects
Too many businesses shy away from starting a blog, usually because they think it’s too much work or they can’t imagine having enough content to stay fresh and relevant.
But the truth is, it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or how many customers you have. Even the smallest business can reap all the benefits of blogging, from converting prospects into customers all the way to building an engaged community.
Ready to get started? Here's a free "How-To" blog post template you can use right away to start blogging and share your message with the world.