Justin Hall, a student at the time, created the first blog in 1994 to publish his thoughts. There were 23 active blogs on the internet in 1999 which skyrocketed to 50 million by 2006. However, blogging is more than just creating an online journal in which to vent, it has become a major subject in today’s marketing practices. According to research, blogs can be an effective marketing tool for small businesses.
In fact, it is estimated that businesses that regularly publish blog posts generate 67 percent more leads per month than those that do not. Furthermore, in 2019, marketers who prioritised blogging reported 13X higher ROI (return on investment) than companies that did not.
It all makes sense. We prefer to know who we are giving our money to as consumers, and blogs provide a sense of familiarity. A blog allows small businesses to illustrate their personalities and way to persuade their audience through their tone of voice (TOV) and expertise.
Here is why your brand needs blogs:
Showcase your knowledge
Starting a blog and posting industry-relevant content on a regular basis is an effective way to make your brand appear competent and well-established in the competitive market environment.
Blogging allows you to demonstrate your expertise because it is essentially a platform for you to share and develop your knowledge with customers or other business owners. This demonstration of expertise gives your brand a prestige level of credibility within your target audience.
However, portraying yourself as a voice of authority in your industry does not imply that you must stick to a single topic.
For example, if your company sells athleisure clothing, you could write blogs about the latest workout trends, foods that are healthy, and even on tips on how to get more exercise in. There are many topic and directions you can choose that are related to your brand, providing you with you new and interesting content ideas.
Boost Your Social Media
Well, you have already set up your brands social media accounts, but you have hit the dreaded content drought. Do not be concerned; it happens to the best of us.
This is something that blogging can help with. Every blog post is a piece of content. You will always have content for your social media pages if you consistently publish blog posts.
Not to mention that blogs are an excellent way to organically spread the word about your company on social media.
Build A Relationship with Your Audience
Running a blog for your business helps you portray your brand as a credible and trustworthy source of information. In this regard, blogging can aid in the development of a much more personal relationship with customers.
Blogs, unlike most traditional forms of advertising, are not explicitly attempting to sell a product or service. They are intended to be helpful, informative, and friendly, with a hint of sales pitch in the mix to allow some brand awareness.
If your company publishes high-quality blogs on a regular basis, you automatically demonstrate that you understand your target audience and their interests. Not to mention that you are demonstrating your willingness to tailor your content to the needs or preferences of your audience. That makes you a company they can rely on and turn towards for advice or information and service.
Fuel Your SEO
The SEO potential of a business blog is one of its most significant advantages.
SEO (search engine optimisation) is the process of increasing traffic to your blog or company website via organic search engine results. That is, you are attempting to check all of the search engine and keyword boxes in order for your site to appear when your target audience searches for a specific service or product related to your brand.
Google has a system in place to monitor and collect all content available on the worldwide internet. Google supplies this information (in the form of an index) into an algorithm, which then attempts to find a match for the question or topic being searched for.
Blog features such as your domain name, descriptions, headings, and so on which all help boost your content up the index, making it easier to find for the searcher.
Generating Leads
Ultimately, the biggest – and possibly the most important – reason you should be blogging as a small business is that it is a fantastic source of generating new leads.
A blog appears to be all snazzy words and pretty pictures. However, the primary goal of a blog is to draw attention to a product or service.
Inserting a call to action (CTA) at the end of your blog post tactfully shows that you mean business. A CTA could be to encourage the reader to visit your website or sign up for your email newsletter. Whatever your goal, it is critical to include a CTA without going overboard.