By Christina R. Metcalf
As a writer I work with a whole lot of people who hate to write. Most people who contact me either don’t have the time, desire, or interest to add to their business blog. But what they dohave is an appreciation of what a blog can do for their business. Even with all the changes in technology, the increase in the popularity of videos and podcasts, and the growing disinterest in reading (for some), blogs still have a place in business.
Your business blog should be one of your hardest working marketing tools. Let’s talk about why:
SEO
No matter how many tags you place on your video, or your image, or your podcast, search engines still love words. Your blog is the perfect way to ensure the proper keywords people would use to find your business are incorporated on your website. Using these keywords in important places on your blog like headers and titles as well as peppered in through the content and image tags can help you organically place for the words that are important to you.
A New Side of You
Your business likely has a tone for its marketing copy. Your blog is a place where you can stretch that tone a little bit and help people get to know you and your employees better. People do business with those they know, like, and trust. Blogs are an excellent method to help people feel all those things for your business.
Your blog can also show a side of your business that others (outside of employees) don’t normally see. This is the type of thing that people like to buy into. Customers want to support companies they believe in, and your blog is a great way to tell your story and convey other information that is not all business.
New Content
Websites can be updated instantaneously with ever-evolving content. But while you may not change out your content on your home page every day, you can add new content to your blog. That way people who visit your website are seeing something new on a regular basis.
This also shows that there’s someone behind the website. Have you ever gone to a website, saw some outdated content, and wondered if the business was still in business? If you have an active blog, people won’t wonder that about you. They will see that you are posting actively and engaging with your audience.
Lead Generation and Nurturing
If you are the kind of business that has a lengthy sales process, one where people do not make an instantaneous purchasing decision, your blog can be an excellent source of content while you nurture your future customer into making a buying decision.
You can also use your blog to introduce a lead magnet. This lead magnet can be used to create a subscriber list for lead generation and more nurturing. Lead magnets and blog interest can provide excellent insights into what your audience finds valuable.
Monetization
As you build your audience, you can use your blog as another source of revenue. You can charge businesses with complementary services to be listed on your blog as advertisers or you can use affiliate links when you’re referring your blog readers to other products and services. Some bloggers make a lot of money doing these things.
Authority and Shaping the Conversation
A blog is the perfect stage to convince someone that you are an authority in your industry or area of expertise. You can use this platform to educate and inspire.
It can also be a very effective tool to shape the conversation and carve out important points of the sales process. For instance, you can write blog posts on important questions to ask during the sales process or important things to look for as they shop for what you sell. Since you are creating the blog post you can shape the most important points to your advantage. You simply must be able to point out why your product or service is superior based on the qualifications you’re suggesting they pay attention to. A carpet cleaner for example may suggest their dry process of cleaning is better than a steam clean/wet solution. The carpet cleaning company could devote an entire blog post to why dry beats wet. If someone searches the question, “which is best dry or wet carpet cleaning?,” the blog post should come up and their expertise would be made available to this person.
Blogs aren’t dead. While there are tons of media options available to you, none of them have replaced the blog yet. Some people have started blogging on social media but the problem with this is that you don’t own the property. If Facebook labels you an anarchist or your page is flagged for any other reason, you could lose all your content. Your business blog on your website, on the other hand, will continue to bring you customers if you build its content with your customers and their needs in mind.
Christina R. Metcalf (formerly Green) is a marketer who enjoys using the power of story and refuses to believe meaningful copy can be written by bots. She helps chamber and small business professionals find the right words when they don’t have the time or interest to do so.
Christina hates exclamation points and loves road trips. Say hi on Facebook.
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