Most business owners are told over and over that they should have a business blog.
But they’re not convinced.
Many business owners think business blogs are just another fad giving them a headache, or because they don’t have the time or skills to create a blog, they hope they can get away with not having one.
Here’s why you should have a business blog, no matter what industry you’re in, and how to avoid that headache.
What is a business blog?
A corporate blog is one way to reach a target audience through useful content.
Business blogs are used for product or service promotion and are a great tactic to get your business more visibility online but shouldn’t be salesy. It’s a more informal platform to build relationships with (potential) customers.
A business blog is a marketing channel (just like social media, direct mail, email marketing, etc.) that helps support business growth. – Corey Wainwright, Hubspot
Business blogging is a long term strategy. I often get asked how much results businesses will see from one blog in the next month. Honestly; You probably won’t see much of a difference. All the results below don’t happen with just one blog!
At the same time, blogging will also bring you long-term results. After you publish your blog, that content will be available to everyone who’s interested. Maybe today you’ll get a handful of views, but in the next year, two years, three years, it may make up for a massive part of your traffic.
On Doen in Boedapest.nl, my Budapest-focused blog, I published a blog explaining how to get from the airport to the city center. It was published in February 2017 (at the same time as the website) and, for the first year, didn’t bring in a lot of traffic. As my website grew, this post received more and more traffic. In the first 18 months of being online, it brought in 35.97% of my total sessions.
Let’s see how your business could profit from having a corporate blog.
Or jump to these sections if you want to learn more about specific reasons:
- Improve brand awareness
- Build a trust relationship with your (potential) customer base
- Position your business as an expert
- Improve your SEO
- Increase social media shares
- Drive more traffic
- Forget salesy promotions
- Receive feedback and ideas
- Answer questions
- Own your platform
- Reuse your content
Or maybe you’re wondering if there are any disadvantages to business blogging?
1. Improve brand awareness
Brand awareness is the degree of consumer recognition of your brand. One way to improve this is by creating brand touchpoints with your potential customer, where your target customers engage with your brand or consume your content. The more they see you, the more they’ll remember you.
Traditionally, touchpoints were commercials, billboards, flyers, etc. Nowadays, many businesses, brands, and organizations try to increase their brand awareness through social media updates and ads, blogging, and partnering with influencers. Oh, and per dollar spent, content marketing generates approximately three times as many leads as traditional marketing (source)!
Keeping a business blog will have people consistently returning to your site. Or, if they’re not loyal blog readers, it will increase the chance of customers stumbling upon your website because you have more content.
The more they visit your site, the more familiar they become with your product, and the more likely they are to purchase in the future. Companies with blogs produce an average of 67% more leads a month than companies that don’t blog (source)!
2. Build a trust relationship with your (potential) customer base
Before someone will purchase your products or book your services, they have to trust you.
They have to be confident in your skills and that you know what you’re doing.
That’s why you share your testimonials and build a portfolio.
But sharing blog posts about your field will enable you to position yourself as an expert and build your credibility with potential customers. Prospects will enter the sales process more educated on what you do! Besides that, it’s a great way to share info and tips as a part of customer service.
Imagine you sell coffee machines. You may compare your new devices or write about how to pick the best coffee machine for your needs. But you can also write (or make a video!) about the best way to clean your appliance or how to keep it in the best condition so your customers can use the machine for longer before having to buy a new one. You may think the latter will cost you money as your customers don’t have to purchase new devices as fast. But no, because you’re sharing this know-how, you’re increasing possible touchpoints and building trust and loyalty into your relationship, ensuring your customers come back to you and may even recommend your products!
70% of consumers feel closer to a company as a result of content marketing (source). Also, 31.1% of consumers on the internet consider a brand’s blog to be the second most influential factor when it comes to making a purchase (source)!
3. Position your business as an expert
The more you share your expertise, the more you’ll be seen as an expert in your industry.
By (potential) customers, Google, and other businesses or organizations.
You’ll become the go-to within your industry for helpful and informative blogs. This can lead to more purchases, more traffic, and more business opportunities, like consulting, coaching, speaking engagements, and more.
4. Improve your SEO
Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo exist to match search queries with the most appropriate content available. They index website pages and then decide which results appear on the first page on many factors, including:
- Keywords
- Number of pages on the website
- How many times the website has been linked to
- How often the website is updated
and much more (and it keeps changing too!).
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a term that refers to increasing your website’s ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs). There are many ways to boost your SEO, and nobody knows exactly how the algorithm works, but blogging is the most organic way to increase your SEO.
Blogging is the most organic way to increase your SEO. Learn why your business needs a blog! Click to tweetWhen you consistently share new content, you’re automatically including relevant keywords, creating more pages, and more links, plus your website will be updated regularly.
With blogs, you’re giving Google many more pages to index (websites with blogs have over 400% more pages to index (source)!), showing search engines your expertise, and regularly updating your website, which should result in a higher ranking for more keywords!
Research by Hubspot shows that websites that blog typically have 97% more inbound links. This is because the content is being shared and linked to—improving the websites rank in the search results and driving more traffic.
5. Increase social media shares
Think about the content you share on social media. A video that makes you laugh, a picture of you and your family on holiday, and a blog post with great tips for your favorite sport?
People aren’t going to share your homepage on their social media, but they will share content that interests them or is useful.
If they’re avid gym-goers, they may share a post outlining the anxiety of starting at a new gym. You give tips about overcoming that anxiety and, at the end, let readers know they can make an appointment with one of your trainers for a look around the gym. Readers share it on social media because they remember how they felt when they first stepped foot in the gym and hope to encourage friends or family with your blog.
Or maybe they’re hobby cooks. You created a delicious recipe with one or more of your products (as a food brand or perhaps you sell kitchenware) and published it online. The hobby cook finds your recipe and saves it on Pinterest to try in the future. After they’ve created it themselves, they share a picture on Facebook and Instagram with a link to your blog, to show off their work.
Business blogging is a great way to get your site in front of (new!) people through social shares.
6. Drive more traffic
Your website is ranking on Google for several relevant keywords, and your blogs are being shared on social media and linked to on other websites.
Now it’s easier for people to find your website, whether they’re looking or not.
Every time you publish a blog, you create one more page to be indexed by search engines like Google. It’s an extra opportunity for you to appear in search engine results and attracts traffic. It’s also a signal to search engines that your website is consistently being updated.
Businesses that blog get 55% more website visitors than companies that don’t (source).
And you don’t even have to pay for ads!
7. Forget salesy promotions
People don’t want to be sold to.
They want to be understood, listened to, and advised.
People don't want to be sold to. They want to be understood, listened to, and advised. Let your business blog help you build authentic relationships! Click To Tweet70% of people would rather learn about a company through articles than advertisements (source).
Let’s say I’m looking for that new coffee machine and I’m doing my online research.
Company A has beautiful appliances at a reasonable price point. I get onto their website, and it’s full of reviews, discounts, and salesy CTAs (call to actions). I can find lots of info on their machines’ specifics, and they’re making all kinds of promises, like free next-day delivery and a 2-year warranty.
Company B has similar devices at a comparable price. They also have great reviews, specifics, free next-day delivery, and a 2-year warranty. The only difference is that they have that blog we imagined in #2. They’re writing about how best to clean my coffee machine, what to look for when buying a new product, tips & tricks to make your coffee maker last, they make comparisons between different coffee beans, and even share some delicious recipes.
With those blogs, Company B is showing they understand my needs, and as a result, I’d be more inclined to buy at Company B, probably even at a higher price point.
8. Receive feedback and ideas
I’m sure you do your market research when you’re thinking up new products or services, right?
But what if your ideas come from the market, instead of the other way around?
Thanks to blog analytics and engagement (comments, shares, etc.), you can see which topics your audience enjoys most.
I work with a self-published author. While I don’t write blogs for her, we use insights for her Facebook and email marketing—and even to decide on her next writing projects! We learned that readers wanted to read a particular character’s story, prompting the author to start planning that book.
9. Answer questions
Do you receive the same question again and again? Write a blog post to answer them!
There’s a big chance that people are searching the same questions they’re asking you.
Not only will this save you time (and money) in the future, you’ll be able to provide a much more in-depth answer. It will probably also be one of your top-shared posts!
Remember that 90% of consumers find custom content helpful (source)!
10. Own your platform
Ok, so no one knows for sure how Google and other search engines decide which website deserves the #1 spot in the results, although we’re aware of a few factors.
Well, it’s the same with Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and other platforms.
We don’t know precisely how top-spots are earned, and we also don’t own these platforms where we connect with potential customers.
What will you do if these platforms disappear tomorrow? Will your audience be able to find you?
Your blog can’t be taken from you. You own your website and have complete control over your content. You’re not at the mercy of social media platforms.
If you post interesting blog posts consistently, interested people will bookmark your website and return.
11. Reuse your content
You don’t want to write a blog and then just have all that work exist *somewhere* on the internet after publishing it. This content can be reused over and over again.
You can repurpose your content for things like:
- Social media updates
- Presentations
- Newsletters
- Courses
- Content upgrades
and more.
Instead of asking your email marketing manager and social media manager to come up with new original content, or doing it yourself, reuse your valuable blog content and drive visitors to your blog while you’re doing it.
Don’t be afraid to update and optimize old content! Add to it, create an infographic, or update statistics and republish!
Are there any disadvantages to a business blog?
In short: I don’t believe there are any disadvantages to business blogging—as long as it’s done right.
- Poorly written content can reflect badly on your brand. Make sure you publish helpful info (informative, amusing, etc.), there are no typos or mistakes, and your content follows your brand guidelines.
- If you decide to start a business blog, do it consistently. It’s ok to blog once a month, but don’t blog three times a week first and then publish only one blog in 6 months.
- The biggest ‘disadvantage’ of blogging is that it takes time. Not just to see the results, but also the content planning and writing.
Ready to create your business blog?
Are you not sure if blogging could work for your business? Trust me—it most probably will, as long as you’re putting in the effort.
If you’re just not sure how to start your business blog or simply don’t have the time to write and grow it—get in touch now, and we’ll talk about how to make blogging work for you.
P.S. You can also pin this post so you can easily refer to it later:
