If your business already has a dedicated website and social media presence on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, you may feel like you have done enough to boost your online reach. However, it shouldn’t stop there. Another important tool in your business arsenal is the blog. Whether your business is large or small, a blog can improve its visibility and help you connect with your target audience.
Blogging improves your SEO
Maintaining a steady stream of new blog content is one of the best ways to increase your ranking on search engine result pages. Each time you publish a new blog post, search engines index the page and add it to their database, creating an opportunity to raise your visibility. According to a study of more than 1,500 HubSpot customers made up chiefly of small- and medium-sized businesses, companies that blog have 434% more pages indexed by search engines. They also have 97% more inbound links. These are links from another website to yours, which is one of the chief ways to raise your credibility and thus ranking among search engines. The more content you add to your blog, the more you’ll be able to stand out from your competition, especially if you make sure to use rich keywords.
Blogging helps build your brand
One of the chief reasons to maintain a blog is to help keep your audience in the loop about your business. While a website is more practical and provides potential customers a more straightforward means of learning what you do, posting updates to a blog helps them understand who you are and connect with your brand. “Think of your blog as your direct communication channel,” says Jaroslaw Siekierski, content marketing and SEO specialist at Web Profits. “It’s a space to talk in depth about your products and services, share timely content, and comment on relevant industry trends in a way that lets your brand personality shine.” According to Demand Metric, a library of tools and resources for marketing professionals, 82% of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content.
It’s more effective than traditional marketing
Your business blog can be more than just another tool in your marketing toolbox. It can be the one that gets most jobs done. According to the HubSpot study, the average company that blogs has 55% more website visitors than companies that don’t blog. It’s also an effective way to reach out to your audience. The majority of people skip advertisements, ignore direct mail, and unsubscribe from company emails. Demand Metric notes that an incredible 70% of people would rather learn about a company through articles rather than an advert, while 60% enjoy reading relevant content from brands, and 60% again feel inspired to seek out products after reading about them. Critically, it’s also significantly more affordable to market on your blog. “Per dollar spent, content marketing generates approximately three times as many leads as traditional marketing,” Demand Metric says.
High-quality blog content is one of the best ways to build your brand, reach customers, improve your ranking on search engines, and develop trust with your audience. Traditional marketing and company websites can feel too impersonal to consumers and potentially drive them away. By starting a blog and posting relevant and informational content about your business and what it stands for, you can reach a wider audience than ever before.