8 Reasons Why You Really Do Need a Business Blog
February 9, 2021
In this day and age, people spend a lot of time online reading blogs. After all, they are an excellent source of entertainment and information. Some make you laugh, while others help you understand complex concepts or even products.
Following the blogs of your favorite businesses keeps you in the loop and makes you feel like you’re a part of its inner circle.
You know all of this to be true, but for some reason, you’ve never created a blog for your own business. The questions are: Should you? and Why?
The short answer is: Yes, a company blog is a great idea! While it’s not as simple as it may seem at first glance, having a blog for your business, any business, has a lot of upsides.
Here are 8 reasons why 2021 should be the year you dive in and start blogging for your business.
8 Reasons Why You Should Start a Blog
1. It Reinforces Your Brand Voice
Your brand has a unique voice. If it doesn’t, it’s time to change that. Every ad, product description, and webpage should reinforce that voice. It could be friendly, funny, authoritative, or any other voice that fits what your brand is all about. It needs to be consistent in everything you do.
A blog is a perfect way to hammer that home. Longer blog pieces allow you to let that voice shine and give your brand not just an identity but a personality.
2. It Increases SEO Rankings
If you own a brand and have a website, you know the importance of pleasing those search engines, especially Google. One of the most important factors for great SEO rankings is to make your website relevant and useful to consumers. Your blog does just that!
Think about the questions your customers might have and build your blog posts around them. As your blog grows, it will become a trusted resource in your industry, and your SEO rankings will climb higher and higher. That’s just smart business.
3. It Increases Website Traffic
This goes hand-in-hand with reason number 2. If your blog is full of information that people want to know, you’ll climb in the SEO rankings, and you’ll get more website traffic as a result.
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For example, let's say that you sell Earth-friendly baby products. You carry cloth diapers, and some people come to your site because they know you have them. But if you add a blog post titled 'Should I Use Cloth or Disposable Diapers?' new parents who are researching that very question will be led to your site to learn more. Once they are there, who knows what else they'll see, love, and buy!
4. It Provides an Opportunity to Establish an Email List
You don’t always want to wait for your customers to come to you. When you create a blog, include a CTA (Call To Action) to give your readers an opportunity to sign up for emails or newsletters from you.
These communications can let them know when you have new products or even new blog posts. This keeps customers connected to your business in a fun and meaningful way.
5. It’s a Platform to Introduce New Products, Services, and Events
When you introduce new products or are hosting an event, there’s only so much you can say on your product page or advertisements.
A blog gives you the bandwidth to delve into the background, provide case studies, and flesh out the reasons you are promoting this product, service, or event.
Even if you don’t want to do a whole blog about something new, it can find its way (with a link to where the reader can find more information) into the copy. It’s a great way to highlight new items or events that you want your customers to see without spending a ton on advertising.
6. It Establishes Your Subject Matter Authority
If you stay consistent and write about your subject with proper research, you’ll grow to become a web authority on the topic.
Think of any topic or product you enjoy. Chances are, you can name one or two people or businesses that are your “go-to” sites to learn more about it. Those are your subject matter authorities.
Becoming a subject matter authority boosts your status in the eyes of your customers as well as search engines. It’s a goal every business blog should want to reach.
7. It Goes Hand in Hand with Social Media
You know that social media is a critical part of your business plan, but what do you put on it to engage your customers? Your blog is the perfect way to keep things fun and fresh on social media.
Think about that diaper blog post. If you shared it on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media posts, do you think it would get people talking? Probably. The new parents who are asking that question will find a whole lot of experienced parents weighing in, and your company and your blog post will be at the center of that conversation.
Nothing keeps your business active in your customers’ minds better than a fabulous social media presence, and a blog can help make that happen.
8. It Keeps People Coming Back to Your Website
When you put it all together, from becoming a subject matter authority to establishing email lists to social media and more, the real result of creating a great blog is that it keeps people interacting with your business and coming back to your website over and over. That means you stay relevant and top-of-mind for your customers.
New customers are great, but returning customers are the foundation of any business.
But, what if I’m not a writer?
As you can see, the benefits of a blog for your business are many.
But we can’t forget to address the elephant in the room: You may be hesitant to start a blog for your business because you aren’t a great writer or simply don’t have the time or desire to write the blog.
That’s just fine. You can hire a professional writer to do that part. In fact, unless you are a superb creative writer, it is a smart idea to let a pro handle it.
As the insider for the business, your job is to figure out what to write about. New products, your brand’s mission, fun and exciting stories about customer interactions (with their permission, of course!), and how-tos are all great ideas.
Just come up with some topic ideas, and let your writer take care of the rest.
Conclusion
These days a blog is expected from your business page. Customers look for it to learn about your business, your products, and your brand’s identify. The best part is that it can work wonders for your brand with minimal investment.
One thing to keep in mind, though, is that your blog needs to be done well. If you want to build up all of those things we just talked about, your blog needs to look good with a well-built webpage and eye-catching photos, be consistent, and most important, be well written so that people will actually want to read it.
And remember, it’s OK to hire out any of those tasks if you don’t feel comfortable doing them. Compared to traditional or pay-per-click advertising, you can build your blog for minimal investment and boost your brand’s web presence exponentially.
So, what are you going to blog about?
