Short answer, absolutely.
We’ve frequently been asked, “Does My Business Need a Blog?” by clients and prospects. Blogs are valuable because they provide an avenue for a business to share useful information with their customers and prospects. It helps establish credibility, improves SEO, and can be utilized across multiple marketing channels.
Here are a few ways that we use our blog content (besides just publishing them on the website):
- Email Marketing Campaigns
- Company Facebook Page
- Infographic content
- Pinterest (once we’ve turned the content into a nice Infographic)
- Company LinkedIn Page
- LinkedIn Article
- Google Post
- Google+ Company Page
- Google+ Personal Page
- Whitepaper and eBook Content
In the case of whitepaper and eBook content, we use them as content offers and request an email address before they can be downloaded. This helps us build our email database. We plan to use them for video content in the future.
Business blogs are at the heart and soul of a great digital marketing strategy.
Here are a few other benefits you will get from blogging for your business:
Increased Traffic
More relevant traffic to your website. Search engines love websites that are active and full of relevant information. How many web pages does your site have and how often are they updated? If you don’t have a blog, the answers are likely only a few pages and not very often. That changes when you have a blog. Every blog post is a new page for the search engine to rank. And, routine blogging updates your site frequently. Search engines love updated websites – which drives up your rankings and brings more visitors.
There are both short-term and long-term benefits. Some businesses find that a large portion of their website traffic is driven by blog posts that are several months or even several years old. So, you will get traffic from the posts you make this week and will continue to get traffic from them well into the future.
Lead Generation
Convert visitors to leads. When you create new content for your blog, you can add a call-to-action (CTA) to each new entry. A CTA directs people to perform a specific action such as calling to set an appointment, downloading a free eBook, or signing up for an email newsletter.
Future blog content can be utilized to nurture your prospects by including it in an email marketing campaign.
At WSI Connect, our email marketing campaign is by far our most effective method of new customer acquisition. Our email marketing campaigns are primarily produced by utilizing blog content.
Establish Credibility
People want to do business with people they can trust. If your blog positions you as a knowledgeable authority in your industry, you will build that critical trust. Being seen as an expert also builds your brand and makes you more attractive to potential customers.
You will stay on top of industry news and trends. It can be a challenge to come up with topics to blog. The best sources for ideas are usually news pieces related to your industry or trends occurring in your niche. A little-recognized benefit of blogging is the fact that it keeps you on top of what is going on in your industry, opening up new opportunities.
Educate Your Prospects
Not everyone that visits your website is ready to buy. Many of your visitors are in the information gathering stage. This blog post is a good example of how we create content that is information focused to help our visitors clearly understand the value of a blog and how the content can be utilized across multiple channels.
Conclusion – Does My Business Need a Blog?
Hopefully, this helped you answer the question, “Does My Business Need a Blog?”. If you’re not already blogging on a frequent basis, we hope you start today! If you need help, reach out for a free consultation. We work with a wide range of clients across many different industries.
