Why is blogging good for small businesses?
Creating content and doing marketing is a difficulty and time pressure for many small businesses, but I really believe a blog can be the answer. Blogging is good for small businesses for so many reasons – not least because creating a single post has so many benefits. For me, this means that the effort I put in to one post, relieves the pressure of so many other elements of my content marketing – both in the long and short term.
Let’s explore further why blogging is good for business…
10 reasons why to blog
I could have written a lot more than 10…but I’ve put in the ones I think are most important and will resonate with small business owners. Blogging is time consuming and it is a commitment, but it really has a lot of advantages and can be a keystone of your content marketing strategy…and if you love doing it, then even better!
Blogging is good for small businesses because it will…
1 …increase sales
Don’t do anything in business unless it’s going to increase sales or increase your sense of well-being…and thankfully, blogging does both. There are ways to monetize a blog, but as a business that is not what you want to focus on. A blog is a method to show off your business in lots of different ways and this will indirectly increase sales. It will increase positive client experiences. It will generate more enquiries. It will introduce clients and website visitors to new products and services.
You can get in to affiliate advertising, backlinks and guest blogging too as an additional revenue stream…but please don’t necessarily start a business blog with this as your main goal, focus on how it can help you increase sales of your current products and services first.
2 …show off your expertise
I love to blog because I love sharing what I am passionate about. I love sharing what I find interesting. The space in a blog post allows you to truly share experiences and give real insight in to your business knowledge and why you are the best person to ‘do the job’ or ‘buy from’.
Blogging regularly really help to grow ‘know, like and trust’.
3 …create evergreen content
We all know that a tweet lasts about 2 hours. We know that Facebook content seems to ‘disappear’ after a matter of days and, if we are really lucky, a LinkedIn post might show up in a newsfeed 5 days later…but that is it! Research shows that a blog post is still classed as relevant up to 2 years after it is published. In some cases (if quite generic content), it can be up to 5 years. Personally, I will read articles from a couple of years ago and certainly take on board the information or advice in them.
This means any time you invest in blogging is for the long term!
4 …be a fantastic SEO tool
A blog at over 1000 words will contain plenty of relevant keywords. If you add to your blog regularly then these constant updates also enhance your Google results rating. The opportunities that blogs allow for interlinking and sharing is also second to none. Website visitors are also more likely to spend more time scanning and reading a blog which is a positive as it reduced bounces and increases the ‘time spent’ or ‘session times’ (see more on this below). Finally, blog posts give more and more people a reason to link to your website…increasing your number of backlinks authentically and professionally. These are all great for SEO.
Read more about why blogging is good for SEO here:
5 …grow your expertise
If I want to write about an area in a blog, but I am struggling to write a full post, then it’s time to research it. By researching it, understanding it and writing about it, I know I truly have gained this knowledge which I can then share.
Blogging is a great form of professional development. You’ll also find your new knowledge translates to impressing clients in meetings and into sales, when you are talking about your products and services with expertise and confidence.
6 …be self-assuring
Imposter syndrome is rife amongst business owners. I hear so often that people are worrying about if they are good enough, if they know enough…and I always say, “if you can blog about it…you know you know it!” Why else do you think essays are used to assess understanding!?!
Be reassured, communicate your expertise and feel confident in what you can do by writing it down! Then, post it as a blog!
7 …save you time
Most businesses find that they are asked the same questions or asked for the same information again and again. Whilst template emails are great…how much better is it to offer a published blog in answer to a question or in response to an enquiry or comment on social media? By offering a direct link, you can drive people to your website and again you illustrate your customer service, knowledge and professionalism.
Using questions as blog titles is also a powerful SEO device as Google now offers lists of ‘People also ask’ questions in their search results – so it’s great to match up to these. There is a chance your blog post could be the recommended article/result.
8 …offer you the chance to reuse content
Have you written articles in the past? Created training documentation? Had printed brochures? Even written a long, explanatory email to a client? All of this written content can be used in blogs. Don’t let hidden gems in print marketing, for example, get lost. Reuse them and repurpose content. It saves you time. It gives you back up blogs and makes good use of the time you spent writing all of that material in the first place.
9 …increase website traffic and time spent
Driving people to your website is really important. For most businesses, it is the primary digital marketing tool so you want people to visit…and importantly, spend time there. It is hard to convince people to return to a service-based website, in particular. You don’t have constantly changing products to entice visitors or clients back. Therefore, a blog is a fantastic way to make people visit more than once and, hopefully, on a regular basis…and when they do, they’ll find something new to read.
With a good blog structure, appealing categories and strong interlinking, you can also increase your chance of readers staying longer on your website as they explore more and more. You can link not only between old and new blog posts (see video below), but also to other website pages, such as relevant services, new landing pages, email sign up pages, and contact pages, for example. This is fantastic for SEO too.
Furthermore, a blog will reach new audiences for your website. You may have clients who aren’t particularly active on social media but really like blogs or receiving blogs directly to their inbox which subscribers can receive or you can send to them as part of your email marketing.
10 …become a content marketing bank
It’s hard to think of a new social media content all of the time. It’s hard to keep creating new content for emails or videos.
With a blog, you have a whole back catalogue of things to share. Olds posts, new posts, snippets of posts, updated posts…you can choose a blog topic and then focus all of your content around that topic, repurposing snippets of your blog for short posts and for updates to other pages on your website. The possibilities are endless…and remember it is not just a new blog post that can be used! For example, find stories or interesting facts and figures from old posts and use those!
Start your business blog today
As I say, there are lots of reason why a blog is good for business and I hope that just these 10 may convince you to make blogging a key part of your digital marketing strategy.
If you are interested in starting a blog, talk to me about my blogging services. You can book a free discovery call here:
Want to get started immediately? Sign up for my online course – Blogging Basics: How to write a blog
An easy to follow 16 lesson, practical guide to writing your first blog, especially designed for small business owners.