What is the first thing we do when we want some information? We go to Google, right? Next time you look something up online, look closely at the results that come up. Examining these results, you will notice that many of the web pages that are being shown to you are in fact blog posts. It’s not uncommon to see a business website that has their own blog. Many of your favourite sites or companies will most likely be sharing information about themselves through their own blog. It’s easy to think that because you run a small business you don’t need to begin blogging. In fact, the opposite is true. In this post, I will point out why small businesses should start a blog and the benefits of doing so.
It Increases Your Online Presence
Believe it or not, a blog is one of the most powerful tools for increasing the online visibility of your brand. Every time you write a blog post for your business, you are creating content. Adding relevant tags and keywords to your posts that are relevant to your target audience will improve your search engine optimisation (SEO). This way your articles can be viewed by more relevant online searchers. In turn, this has the potential to attract new customers. Additionally, having an active and engaging blog can drive a significant amount of traffic to your website, which could in time increase sales.
Communicate With Your Customers
People tend to trust the information that they read on blogs. If you are sharing information about your business on your blog, you can be seen as a trusted resource within your target market. Building trust with your customers is important as trustworthiness is a key ingredient in building loyal customers. Trusting customers will buy your products. Using your blog as a tool to educate and answer questions for your customers is invaluable. A good thing to do is take your FAQ’s and turn them into blog posts. This way you are directly but indirectly communicating with your customers and opening up that bridge of trust between them and your brand.
Become a Leader in Your Industry
As mentioned briefly in the previous paragraph, the best business blogs take the time to answer the most common questions their customers have. If you consistently creating content that helps your customers get the answers they are looking for, it can definitely help you establish yourself and your brand as an authoritative figure. If you are always helping your customers make informed decisions then they will most likely recommend your business to others as they have begun to establish you as a leader in your industry in their eyes.
It can become a Lead Generation Tool
It’s important that your blogs are always relevant to your industry. Take advantage of your blogs by opening up opportunities to include calls to action within or at the end of your posts. Every call to action point mentioned can lead to conversion points such as landing pages. These pages can offer more value-based content for your customers such as courses, e-books, lectures, webinars, workshops or products. You will begin to see if the level of interest is increasing and there will be a good chance that your visitors can benefit from your offering.
When thinking about blogging for your business, there are only positives. Although, it might be daunting to start I encourage you to bite the bullet and just begin. You can also have professional bloggers write for you but as the business owner who knows the ins and outs of their business, try to write your blogs yourself. Your customers will be able to detect the authenticity through your posts. There’s nothing to wait for, begin blogging today and you will see in time the benefits it can bring to your small business.
Leave a Comment