While marketing strategies constantly change, one thing that has remained consistent is the benefits of blogging. Not only does having a business blog help drive website traffic through SEO, but it also helps establish your brand and build trust with potential customers.
Here, we will highlight the benefits of blogging to get your business started with this inbound marketing strategy.
Table of Contents
What is a business blog?
Benefits of a business blog
Start a blog for your business
What is a business blog?
A business blog is a regularly updated section of a company’s website where the organization publishes informative and relevant content related to its industry, products, services, or areas of expertise.
These blogs are created and maintained by businesses to achieve a variety of objectives, including marketing, customer engagement, and thought leadership.
Benefits of a business blog
There are numerous benefits to having a business blog, some of them are that it:
1. Boosts website traffic
A blog can be a powerful tool to drive organic and sustained traffic to your website when used effectively. According to a study by Hubspot Marketing, businesses with blogs get 55% more traffic than those that don’t.
Creating valuable, informative, and well-researched blog content attracts organic traffic, as readers are more likely to find your posts useful and informative. And with every new blog post, there’s another indexed page to help with search engine optimization (SEO).
Using on-page SEO, blog posts can be optimized for specific keywords or key phrases relevant to your industry, products, or services. When people search for those keywords on search engines like Google, your blog posts are more likely to appear in search results. Learn more about the benefits of SEO.
In addition, blog content can be repurposed for social media content, which increases the likelihood of readers clicking through to the website.
2. Establishes authority and expertise
A blog allows you to create in-depth, comprehensive content that delves into topics relevant to your industry. By providing thorough explanations, insights, and analysis, you demonstrate your deep understanding of the subject matter, showcasing your expertise and positioning your blog as a valuable resource for your readers.
Additionally, a blog is an ideal platform for expressing your unique perspectives and insights about industry trends, challenges, and emerging technologies. Sharing thought-provoking ideas and opinions can establish you as a thought leader in your field.
Additional Tip: It can be helpful to include author bios of the team members or other individuals contributing to blog content to outline their qualifications and further enhance credibility.
3. Educates your audience
Some of the best-performing content are how-to posts and those that answer common customer questions, such as use cases for a product. But how does educational content drive leads and sales?
- Provides solutions to common problems or pain points your target audience faces. When you offer valuable solutions, readers are more likely to turn to your business when they need related products or services.
- Helps readers understand the value of your products or services. By providing information about how your offerings solve their problems or meet their needs, you make a stronger case for them to become customers.
- Answer questions, dispel doubts, and provide insights potential customers might have during their research phase, accelerating the sales cycle by reducing the time it takes them to decide.
- Introduces your audience to complementary or advanced products or services to upsell or cross-sell to existing customers who have already benefited from your solutions.
4. Showcases products or services
As we mentioned, blogs can be a great place to educate your audience; a big part is answering common questions and providing information on how to use products. They are also a great place to showcase new product offerings.
5. Drives lead generation
One of the most important things to include in a blog is a call-to-action (CTA). A CTA is a specific, actionable element, typically a button, link, or message, that encourages readers to take a desired action. CTAs are strategically placed within a blog post or webpage to guide visitors toward a specific goal or conversion, which can vary depending on the objectives of the blog or the website.
Here are some common types of CTAs used on blogs:
- Subscribe: Encourages readers to subscribe to the blog’s newsletter or email updates.
- Download: Promotes the download of valuable resources, such as ebooks, whitepapers, templates, or guides and collects contact information in exchange for the resource.
- Contact Us: Invites readers to get in touch with the company or blog owner.
- Sign Up: Promotes registration for webinars, events, courses, or memberships, which also collects user information for registration.
- Share: Encourages readers to share the blog post on their social media profiles or via email to help expand the content’s reach.
- Read More: Encourages readers to explore related or additional content on the website to keep visitors engaged and encourage them to spend more time on the site.
CTAs are essential for guiding readers through the conversion funnel and achieving specific business goals. They should be visually prominent and clearly communicate the value of taking the action. Effective CTAs can significantly impact lead generation, user engagement, and overall website performance.
6. Enhances social media presence
Quality blog content can easily be repurposed and shared on social media, which increases visibility and drives traffic back to your website.
Additionally, social media allows you to interact directly with your audience. Sharing blog posts, engaging with comments, answering questions, and participating in discussions helps build a community of followers who are more likely to click through to your website.
7. Expands your brand
A blog provides a unique opportunity to get more personal with your audience to expand your brand, and according to a Demand Metric study, approximately 60% of consumers enjoy reading content from brands, and 82% of customers feel more positive about a brand after reading blog content.
Here are some content ideas that can help personalize the brand and foster a deeper connection with the audience:
- Behind-the-scenes posts: Share “a day in the life” stories of employees, showcase the workspace, or provide a glimpse into the company’s daily operations.
- Founder’s story: Share the story of how the company was founded, including the challenges, successes, and personal journey of the founder.
- Customer stories: Highlight your customers’ experiences and success stories to demonstrate that your brand values its customers and their feedback.
- Charitable initiatives: Share information about the company’s involvement in charitable causes, community service, or sustainability efforts. Highlight the positive impact your brand is making on the world.
- Mistakes and lessons learned: Write about challenges or mistakes the company has faced and the lessons learned from them to demonstrate authenticity and a commitment to improvement.
- Product or service development: Explain the process of developing a product or service, including the creative and problem-solving aspects. Share the journey from concept to reality.
By incorporating these content ideas into your business blog, you can personalize your brand, create a more genuine connection with your audience, and showcase the human side of your company.
Start a blog for your business
Now that you understand the importance of a business blog, it’s time to get started. Check out our next article on how to start a business blog.
