10 Reasons Business Blogging is a Game-Changer
What IS a blog? According to inbound marketing authority Hubspot, a blog is a website with frequently-updated content about specific keywords or topics. “Blogging is the act of creating short-form content.” (Read more HERE.) It’s when you write about a particular subject, like this post about business blogging, and post it to the blog page of your website.
Unlike your “About” page, your blog needs regular content focused on specific topics relevant and helpful to your clients. The content needs to resonate with the readers of your blog and be valuable so they will want to continue learning more from you. Your posts should make people think differently in order to act as inbound marketing for your business.
Inbound marketing is any marketing method you use to attract clients to your business instead of ads, knocking on doors, sending out salespeople, or cold-calling. You want to use the right methods so that the search engines find your content and serve it up to your ideal clients. Potential customers read blogs to find out what you know, to learn more about your topics, and to determine if you are an expert at what you do. Because each blog post is a separate URL, they are each a separate opportunity for your website to be found. Business blogging is a chance to put content out that lives forever, generating countless leads.
Your blog posts also ensure you bring in the right kinds of leads. They are already looking for what you offer. You establish trust by educating the site visitor on your areas of expertise. The more articles you have, the stronger the proof you offer to your prospects.
Blog vs. Business Blog
The main difference between regular blogs and a business blog is that the business blog is like another marketing channel (compared to direct mail, social media, ads, etc.) to help grow the business. After you write and publish a blog post, you can take that post and use it in your other marketing to drive traffic to your website where people can take action to buy your services and/or products. Try these ideas:
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- use the blog post as the basis for writing a parallel article on LinkedIn
- take several “genius” sentences and make them into quote graphics to share on Twitter and Instagram over several days (tools like Canva are great for creating the quote graphics)
- use the Facebook “share” integration on your website to share your article on your business Facebook page or in groups you’re part of
- take one or several images from the blog post to pin on your Business Pinterest (use Invideo to kick it up to a video pin)
- share a snippet on Google My Business as a status update
- do an Instagram “live” (also Facebook Live and LinkedIn Live) talking about the post
- repurpose it as a podcast topic
- turn it into a YouTube video
You get the idea. One blog post can then live in lots of other places in lots of other ways, getting more eyes on the content you created.
Let’s face it: the only way you make money off your website is if people actually see it. Blogging and sharing that blog on social media is a great way to move more people off social media and onto your website.
10 Reasons Your Business Should be Blogging
You may not like to write, and that’s OK because you can hire an intern or professional copywriter to write your blog posts for you, but you need to blog. Here are ten compelling reasons why:
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- attract prospects: provide content people are looking for related to your business and your blog posts will be served up in search results.
- establish credibility: people searching the internet are looking for experts who know what they are talking about – be one of them and demonstrate it in your informed blog posts.
- warm up leads: because people will find your content from their searches or seeing it on your social media, you have the opportunity to start building relationships through your blog post, so any leads you obtain from the post will already know something about you, compared to running ads or cold-calling.
- create opportunities: you never know who’s looking at you. I’m in a LinkedIn training group, Social Sales Link, and connected over a session with a lovely person who had been following me for awhile. She had checked out my content and that led her to ask if I’d be a presenter at her event.
- consolidate learning: this blog post is a perfect example of that. I’ve read a lot about blogging and do blog posts for several of our D and S Designs marketing clients on a regular basis. I read deeper to write this post, and blogging truly did come together more in my mind as I crafted this article for my blog and marketing.
- storytell your way: instead of leaving your story to be told by others, be they journalists or social media users, a blog enables you to tell your story your way. It’s one of the best ways to be authentic in front of your clients and prospects, building the know, like, and trust factor.
- drive traffic: if you follow even a few of the suggestions I presented above and include your website in those social media marketing efforts, more people will go to your website where they can take action and buy what you’re offering.
- be distinct: only a small percentage of businesses are blogging, which means your blog will stand out from your competition. When your posts position you as an expert in your industry, you eliminate some of your competitors who don’t do that.
- showcase expertise: a blog is a great way to demonstrate your knowledge of the industry you serve. For example, with my 30+ years of experience in the promotional products industry, I can speak to the best ways to acquire new clients, increase sales, provide marketing services alongside products, develop a strong set of processes and systems to run a successful promo business, and more.
- convert leads: if you get leads from your other marketing that brings them to your website, all you need to do is make sure your website is set up to clearly and concisely offer them what they need so they can buy it. Consider offering an incentive to your ideal clients to sign up for your email newsletter so that you can add those prospects not ready to buy to your email list and stay in front of them. Each blog post should end with a relevant call to action. Like this blog post about inbound marketing will offer you the opportunity to join my email list… ?
Business Growth
If you blog consistently – be it once a month, once a week, or daily – you are sure to quickly see an increase in lead generation, sales, and client acquisition. If you are looking for more customers, there are not many better ways than business blogging. Give it a try and let me know about your results in the comments.
List inspired by Michael Fishbein’s 2014 blog post on the Huffington Post HERE. See how long good content can live on the internet and drive traffic to your website.
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