Blogging. Most business owners know how important it is to make a blog part of their strategic content marketing plan, but even so, there are a lot of businesses that don’t. For many, it comes down to the fact that they simply don’t have the resources or wherewithal to consistently create content for a blog. That said, I’m hoping to convince you how important it is and how much it can help you and your business succeed. Here are 7 reasons why you need to have a blog if you’re in business.

7 Reasons to Blog

1) Establish You As an Expert

Ideally, your blog will answer common questions your leads and customers have. If you’re consistently creating content that your target audience finds helpful, it will establish you as the expert authority. If prospects can find answers to their common questions within your blog posts, they’re much more likely to enter the sales process already trusting what you have to say.

2) Increase Traffic to Your Site

Search engines love websites that are active and are consistently displaying new content. But in reality, you don’t need to update the majority of your website very often, so an active blog goes a long way toward helping with this because every time you post a new blog, it’s one more NEW page for the search engines to index. Additionally, when you create a new post and then share it on social media, you help drive even more traffic back to your site whenever anyone clicks on the social post and gets delivered to your blog post.

3) Attract New Customers

Every time you post your blog on social, email it to your list, and use strategic keywords within your blog, you are potentially reaching new customer leads via search engine results. The further you can expand your outreach, the more likely a new customer can find you. If you have a consistent and helpfully informative blog, this will help you stand out in your marketplace and provide more reasons for a customer to choose you over someone else.

4) Educate Prospective Customers on What Your Business Can Do

A blog is an excellent way to highlight your expertise and whatever unique value you bring to your marketplace. You can give people a pretty good idea of how you look at things and how you approach problem solving. This is especially helpful if your business is service-oriented because you can provide tips, insights, and actionable steps that show your prospective custsomer that you truly are the answer to their questions — even the ones they didn’t know they needed to ask. A recent Hubspot survey revealed that 34% of people read blogs to learn how to do something new, so you’re a step ahead if what you are blogging about is also helping your leads do something they need to do in their own business/lives better than they’ve done it before.

5) Provides Long-Term Results

The beautiful thing about a blog post is that it’s a gift that can keep on giving. You initially publish a post and get a certain number of views on it and it may seem like the numbers eventually dwindle down, but the truth is, the post from today could end up generating traffic months or years in the future. How? Well, it’s now ranking with search engines which means someone can find today’s post four months from now and click through. This is especially true for “evergreen” posts because the information is always relevant.

6) Establish Trust

If you show up regularly and consistently put out good content, this is one of the first steps of establishing trust with prospective customers. It’s also a great way to introduce your voice/culture/brand. Your readers get to “hear” you speak to how you solve the problems particular to your industry. They get a peek into who you are, how you think, and how you react to different scenarios. And if you’re consistent, over time, you’ll also get people leaving comments on your blog, so you have additional opportunities to establish relationships with your blog readers. When this is compounded with social and email, it lays a groundwork for trust. This makes it much easier for your prospective customers to turn to you when it’s time to actually buy the product or service you offer.

7) Fills Your Sales Funnel

All of the above are ways to start a prospective customer down your sales funnel path — whatever that looks like for your business. Moving a lead from awareness, to interested, to buying is what we all want and need as business owners. A blog is one really great tool to have in your marketing toolbox.

Video Blogs Count, Too

I want you to keep in mind that a blog doesn’t have to be ONLY written content. Perhaps you’re more comfortable with video? Vlogs (video blogs) are absolutely a choice. Better yet, a blog that combines the two can work really well.

Get Unstuck, Get Started, or Get It Off Your Plate

Are you struggling with getting started? An editorial calendar can help. Knowing what you’re going to write about before you sit down goes a long way toward helping you get it done. Of course, we’re here as a resource for you, whether that means creating the strategy and plan for your blog and/or writing it, too.

If you need some help and have questions, schedule time with Deb and let’s see how we can get your blog working hard for your business.