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Does your business have a blog?
Have you delayed taking the plunge because it’s just too much work or don’t have the technical expertise to get a blog up and running and, to then, maintain?
Whilst I’m not going to deny the fact that business blogging is hard work – at least doing so properly – there are a few stats you need to be aware of before you discard blogging from your marketing toolkit.
This interesting article on the Hubspot Blog highlights some fascinating stats about blogging:
- According to Social Media B2B, B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those that don’t.
- The Content Marketing Institute reports that 8 out of 10 people identify themselves as blog readers.
- ContentPlus published that blogs give websites 434% more indexed pages and 97% more indexed links.
Here are a few more interesting stats about blogging…
- Once a site has over 300 indexed pages, traffic generation increases by 236%. Blogs greatly increase the number of indexed pages a site has. Source: Sigma Web Marketing
- Once you write 24 to 51 blog posts, blog lead generation can increase by up to 30%, write more than 54 blog posts and lead generation can increase by up to 77%. Source: Traffic Generation Cafe
- 61% of U.S. online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from a blog. Source: Blogher
There are literally hundreds of good reasons to start a business blog; however, I’ve put together 23 of the most compelling. Hopefully they’ll help convince you to get started on your blogging journey and begin to reap the benefits.
1) Grow traffic to your web
If you share great information and promote the hell out of your blog, you’ll soon start to see positive results. Targeted prospects and leads who have found your content on search engines or social networks (because it’s so great and everyone is sharing it) are interested in finding out more about what you can offer them. They’ll want more and will probably subscribe to your email list or add your blog to their RSS Feed. That means more traffic for you.
2) Share useful, timely and relevant information with your customers
You can’t post any old rubbish on your blog; it needs to be useful, timely and relevant to your existing customers or your potential target audience.
Writing about industry news and trends or offering tips and advice which helps your customers helps make you the ‘go to’ source for information about your industry or market.
3) 
Boost your site’s SEO
If you host your blog on your main domain (eg. www.mysite.com/blog) and create a constant stream of high quality content, Google (and other search engines) are going to love you for it.
They want to see fresh new content on your site and a Blog is the perfect tool to provide this. By creating more pages of consistent, high quality content for your blog, you’re increasing you online real estate and, at the same time, gaining points with the search engines which will reward you with more traffic.
And all those pages of great content… Well, people are going to start linking to them and Google is gonna love you even more!
4) Acquire more Customers
“82% of marketers who blog daily acquired a customer using their blog, as opposed to 57% of marketers who blog monthly – which, by itself, is still an impressive result” source: Hubspot
If you create good, valuable and trustworthy content you will start to attract a steady stream of targeted traffic. Once you have this traffic you can use proper calls-to-action, email subscription forms or contact forms to start generating targeted leads for your business.
5) Provides Great Content to Share on Social Media
You know all that great content you have on your blog?
If you have the right social media share buttons, your readers will share your content through their favorite social networks; this will drive new traffic to your blog and allow you to capture leads and create new business opportunities.
All your blog posts also become great content for you to share on your social media accounts and drive traffic back to your blog.
6) Helps you build and establish Authority in your niche or industry
Blogging allows you to demonstrate your expertise in a certain area by sharing high-quality, useful and relevant information.
People who read this high quality information on your blog begin to see you as an authority and their go-to resource for this type of content. Not only do you get a happy reader, you also enhance your professional image within your niche or industry.
7) Create new opportunities
Once you start getting traffic to your blog new opportunities will start to materialize… think press coverage, opportunities for speaking engagements and conferences… sky’s the limit 🙂
8) Deepen your knowledge of your industry or market
Keeping an active and successful blog means you need to come up with a constant stream of topics to write about. You’ll be doing a load of research and learning to keep up to date with all the latest news and trends in your market.
Well respected content marketer, Marcus Sheridan, was clear to point out in this Social Media Examiner article that blogging helped him sharpen his sales skills. Blogging forced him to stay up to date with every new technology in his industry (Building pools) and the extensive knowledge acquired through blogging meant he literally had answers to all his client’s questions!
9) Learn more about your customers and create a community
Through comments and interaction on your blog, you’ll discover insights which will help you tailor and refine your products to better suit your customers. They’ll tell you exactly what they are interested in and what they want. All you have to do is provide it for them!
10) Provide Better Customer Service
Your customers want to talk to you and a blog is a perfect way to create two-way communication. Through the comments in your blog your customers can bring up issues or queries which you can then answer directly and in a more personable and friendly manner.
11) Grow your email list by re-purposing blog content to create lead magnets
You’re going to have lots of juicy content on your blog, content that can be re-purposed to create useful lead magnets to attract email leads.
Use a series of blog posts to create an ebook or whitepaper which you can then offer to your readers for free, in exchange for the valuable email address.
12) It’s easy to set up a blog
Setting up a blog is relatively easy. I’d recommend using WordPress to start. You don’t need any programming skills and there are plenty of great tutorials on the web which can help you get started quickly (I recommend this quick video by Pat Flynn). The vast selection of themes and plugins allow you to build a top performing blog in just a few hours. Other great resources are this Ultimate Guide on How to Start a Blog by one of my favorite bloggers, Ramsay, from BlogTyrant or this detailed article… How to Start & Create a Blog Today: Step by Step by Matt Banner.
13) Let’s your brand’s personality shine through
Forget writing in a formal and business-like tone, your blog is the perfect platform for letting people know what you stand for and that you are human. Share company news, information about your products, your team, behind the scenes photos… just be yourself!
14) It’s the heart of your Social Media and Content Strategy
Your blog is essentially your content hub. It’s where you’ll send traffic to from your Facebook updates, your tweets and your Pinterest pins. You engage with your followers on your social networks but you want to be sending them back to your blog and your website to ‘close the deal’. The powerful content on your blog is where the whole process starts; it literally is the heart of your social media and content strategy.
15) Allows you to create conversations with your target audience
Communication should never be one-way! Blogging allows for comments, interaction and sharing feedback which is useful to both parties.
16) Blogging is fun!
Once you get the hang of it – and begin to see results – blogging becomes a fun, energizing and, above all, rewarding experience.
You’ll be a blogging master in no time, enjoying the challenge and increasing traffic and leads to your site.
17) It’s a cost effective marketing tool
Apart from the time invested in writing the posts, blogging costs are low in relation to the benefits obtained.
Think of each piece of content you produce as an asset. As your blog grows so do your assets and overall online real estate. Every time you hit publish and your posts get shared, you’re building brand awareness and promoting your products and services to an ever growing audience.
18) Helps to create a more engaged team
If you encourage and allow all your staff to contribute to your blog they will feel a more valued part of the team. By contributing to the company’s content marketing efforts (through the blog) they become more motivated and engaged.
19) Serves as a supporting platform for your Sales Team
Your sales team can refer to the content on your blog when dealing with customers or prospects. As you’ve been posting useful and valuable content on a regular basis, you’ll probably find that the majority of client objections are answered in your blog. This content might just be what your sales team needs to close the deal!
20) A Blog humanizes your brand
Your customers want to know the faces behind the brand. You don’t have to tell them what you had for breakfast but it is a good idea to show them a little bit about you and what you stand for. A blog is the perfect medium to transmit your thoughts and ideas to your target market in a non-salesy way. They’ll learn about the real you!
21) It’s a great recruiting tool
Your blog can save you money by attracting candidates who identify with the values, ideas and concepts you cover in your blog. It’s a great way to establish and nurture relationships with people who could just be that ideal candidate for your next job opening.
22) Better control of your company’s online reputation
Your blog can be a fantastic tool to respond to potential PR problems by issuing statements and providing explanations on issues in a fast and effective way. Your customers and followers are used to the transparency and information you are constantly providing on your blog and it’s where they will go if they hear any negative press about you. This is your chance to explain your version in your very own words.
23) Gain a Competitive Advantage in your market or industry
Chances are your competitors aren’t blogging, and if they are, they’re probably doing it wrong. By creating and maintaining a top class blog (Interesting, useful and informative) you’ll be able to transmit your company’s uniqueness and expertise, gaining credibility and differentiating you from the pack.
Setting up a blog for your business requires a considerable investment in time and effort; however, the 23 reasons mentioned in this post should provide sufficient incentive for you to muster up the courage to start your blogging journey as soon as possible. The benefits greatly outweigh the negatives and you’re business will soon start to reap the rewards of a consistent and high quality blogging strategy.
Have you got a blog for your business? If not, are you planning on starting one? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Recommended resource for Business Blogging…
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