Business blogs are gaining attention for being the invaluable marketing tool that industry leaders have believed them to be for some time now. One of the first questions business leaders ask regarding a blog is, “What’s the ROI?” Valid question. With enough successful business blogs paving the way, there is growing research to answer it with impressive percentages.
The biggest benefit — the one pretty much all the other benefits point to — is driving traffic to your website. Blogging offers more long-term bang for your buck than any other traffic-increasing method (like paying for Google ads).
Let us show you what we mean. Here’s a breakdown of the benefits a business blog provides its company, along with some backing statistics and tips for best practices.
12 Major Benefits of a Business Blog
- Each business blog post adds a new page to your website, which is really a new door. Blogs grow your website, which increases your exposure.
- The more content on your site, the greater the chance your site will be found in searches. It’s a numbers thing. Businesses with websites of 401-1000 pages get 6x more leads than those with 51-100 pages. (HubSpot Marketing Statistics, 2011)
- Google knows what date your pages were written, and it ranks newer pages higher. Since it is uncommon (and often unnecessary) to change or add content to the static pages of your website, blogging is the primo choice for consistently adding new content to your website, improving your SEO.
- Blog posts increase direct traffic to your website. As this happens, search engines index that information and direct more traffic to your site indirectly.
- After posting 24-51 blog posts, site traffic increases up to 30%. After posting 52+, traffic increases up to 77%. (Traffic Generation Cafe)
- Brand building: A business blog is the perfect medium to reveal the personality of your brand and connect with people on a deeper level. Tell little bits of your story. Be funny or share ways your company blesses your community. Business blogs can be incredibly versatile.
- Build relationships with readers through words, tips and information sharing. People like buying from a company they know. By allowing readers to get to know you via your blog, you establish a base for trust and loyalty.
- Companies that blog receive 55% more visitors than companies that do not. (Hubspot)
- As I said earlier, blogging has better ROI than paid search ads. Consider each blog post a little advertiser working for you all the time. You paid for the researching/writing/editing/SEO for the blog one time, but as long as that page remains published, it is repeatedly leading people to your website.
- Blogs provide shareable content. You (and your readers) can share a blog article on social media, gaining you even more exposure and website traffic.
- A well-written business blog establishes your brand as an industry leader or go-to over time. Neither Rome nor blog was built in a day. Blogging is a great way to gain credibility, especially for small or start-up businesses.
- Business blogs answer the questions your clients (or potential clients) already have. Imagine if you could be there to strategically answer what you know your customers wonder about–the questions they don’t think to ask while standing in your store or when they have you on the phone. A business blog is your chance to provide thought-out answers for them.
It’s quite evident that the more blog posts and pages, which make up “pages” in your blog, you create and get indexed, the more blog traffic you’ll get, and the more business leads and money you will ultimately generate. As simple as that. —Traffic Generation Cafe
Top 6 Business Blog Blunders
- Inconsistency. Blog posts should be added in regular increments. This is the top blunder for business owners who try to DIY their blogs when, realistically, they do not have the time. Posting 2 blogs a month for a year is better than posting 5 blogs one month and none the next. Increase or decrease gradually; influx will negatively affect your SEO.
- Used Car Salesman Approach. Blogs aren’t supposed to sell your product. They are a source of information where you offer tips/info related to your field, while establishing yourself as knowledgeable to readers and drive traffic to your website. Leave the sales pitches in the trunk.
- Nothing worthwhile is free. At Jemully, we love a good DIY project, but in the end, a bargain isn’t worth sacrificing your business’s credibility. Just as a quality blog can establish you as an industry leader, a poorly-executed blog–and the professional and marketing implications of such–will attach itself to your brand. You are what you write.
- Stand-alone blogs. Yes, you can start a business blog on a free domain and write it yourself, but really consider the cost of cutting corners. A business blog should be on your main website. Otherwise, you’re splitting your traffic between two different domains, which is really like stealing from yourself.
- Egocentricism. Your business blog is your company’s voice. As any skilled communicator knows, don’t talk about yourself too much.
- Negative comments. Respond to any and every comment you receive; handle negative comments with maturity and grace. Too often businesses “don’t have time” to deal with negative comments. Make time to respond; it’s a simple customer service application that pays off.
To recap:
In order to take full advantage of all the benefits of a business blog, you need to write intriguing, quality content that is relevant to your target audience and post it consistently over an extended period of time.
If you worry about giving away all your trade secrets for free in your blog, don’t. Don’t give everything away, but also, don’t worry about helping people for free. We provide a blog-writing service, but that doesn’t stop us from offering blog tips and how-to’s. We know not everyone can or has the time to spend on blog writing, or social media managing, or website design, or any other service we offer. The relationships you build and the authority you establish justify your investment.
You get these benefits when your business blog has well-written, relevant content with no spammy blog tricks. Your goal is to woo both readers and search engines alike.When you add quality blog posts to your site regularly, you woo them, and woo them well.