What Exactly is a Blog. And What are the Benefits of Blogging?
If you’re familiar with digital marketing, including social media and other platforms, you’ve likely heard the term “blogging” and how important it is to your online presence. But you may still have some questions about what exactly a blog is and just why it’s so important to in scaling your company’s online presence.
Any type of marketing, whether traditional or digital, is meant to help a business stand out from its competitors. With the various channels available to help you spread the word about your company’s products or services, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by options.
Read on for more information about this useful digital marketing tool!
First – What is a Blog?
A “blog” is short for “web log,” or essentially an ongoing informational site consisting of diary-like entries, or “posts.” You may be asking yourself, “I have a website. Do I need a blog? What’s the difference in having one or not?”
A blog is different from a website in that a blog is more of an online journal that should have a regular stream of new content. Ideally, you should write and post new blog content a few times a week (most blogging sites like WordPress have a scheduling tool which allows you to upload posts in advance). Your website is your business’ digital placeholder or business card on the Internet which may not be updated very often (unless you have new staff members or have added or no longer offer certain products or services).
Blogging is not a small undertaking. It takes time and effort to plan, write and upload posts regularly. Regular bloggers rely on various tools, from the basic spreadsheet and their preferred content management system, to organize their posting schedule and subsequent tracking methods.
There are literally millions of blogs available online for every conceivable subject. With so much information out there, it’s easy to think, “Why should I add to the mix? Who’s interested in what I have to say? And what are people blogging about?”
The answer is simple – plenty of readers will be interested in what you have to say. And that’s because you’re putting your own spin on the topics you’re writing about. You should have a sharp focus on differentiating your blog content from the competitors.,
With that said, here are the top 15 benefits of having a blog on your business website.
1. Increasing Your Visibility
Owning or operating a business is all about “getting out there,” and a blog is an effective, relatively quick way to do that. You can connect with existing and potential clients or customers, share more about your business, and start promoting your name and business affiliation. Again, it takes work, but the efforts are well worth the outcome – especially in the long term.
2. Growing Your Network
Blogs thrive on readers, and you would be surprised at the potential of blog’s reach. Of course, promote your company’s blog within your immediate circle of colleagues and clients, as well as your social networks, to gain followers.
3. Establishing Yourself As A Thought Leader
If you own or operate a business, you should know your industry well, and continue to educate yourself so your business can grow, and you can educate prospects for new leads and existing clients for loyalty. Use your blog content to position yourself as an expert in your field by writing posts about everything from little-known issues to emerging trends.
4. The Opportunity To Speak In Your Company’s “Voice”
Whether you realize it or not, your company has a “brand”, or public perception. A brand is much more than your company’s logo or tagline; it extends to your customers’ emotional and even psychological responses to your company. Is your business playful and fun, or serious and trustworthy? (For instance, a vintage clothing store owner would write in a very different tone of voice than, say, a financial advisor). Use your blogging platform as your company’s voice.
5. Posting Fresh Content To Your Website Regularly
Many business owners host a blog on their website; others keep them separate. This is entirely an individual choice, but we prefer the former. Having the blog on your website helps to keep your web content fresh, which shows search engines and readers that you care about constantly educating them about your niche – a serious value play for both SEO and user experience (UX). Always keep consistency and frequency in mind when posting – if you do two blogs a week on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, keep that stick to that schedule. This is a value play on readers because they’ll get used to your scheduling.
6. Exploring Relevant Topics In Greater Depth
The great thing about a blog is that your topics can be very broad, such as an issue relevant to your entire industry, or super-specific, such as a community event your company is sponsoring or participating in, or your new service or product. A blog provides you the chance to discuss these topics in more detail. For instance, a financial advisor may write an entire post about the benefits of 529 savings plans; another post might compare two types of IRAs.
7. Sharing Information About Your Company
A blogging platform is a perfect way to share more information about your business’ culture and mission. You could profile staff members, give a “behind the scenes” glimpse of your company’s headquarters, or write about how your office celebrates certain holidays or special occasions. This lets readers see a different, more informal, side of your business and its employees.
8. Experimenting With New Technology
Written blogs have now evolved into “vlogs,” or video blogs, which provide additional opportunities to share information about your company in different ways. That “behind the scenes” glimpse of your company’s headquarters could be an all-access tour of your office, or a “day in the life of Company X” to give potential hires a sense of what it’s like to work at your company.
9. Engaging With Readers/Potential Clients
As the blog owner, let your posts start a discussion and let your readers’ comments continue the conversation. Your readers may never become clients, just as you’ll have clients who never read your blog. But the fact that you received any comments at all means what you have to say is provoking an emotional response in your readers, so they are connecting with your words on various levels.
10. Boosting Your SEO Rankings
Besides educating your audience as they arrive in various forms of the buying cyle – whether a newbie looking for simple information or someone ready to buy and looking for a trusted brand – the other biggest reason to keep a blog is to boost your site’s SEO rankings on search engines. The term you type into Google when you want to look something up is called the “keyword”, and the most robust sites are keyword-rich and, most importantly, kept current. You don’t need to do a complete overhaul of your site every few months or even every year, but having a frequent and consistent blog that contains strong keywords will make it easier for people to find you.
11. Linking To Relevant Posts On Other Sites
Blogs allow you to pay it forward in many ways. You can link to articles or posts on other sites discussing the same topic to get various perspectives on an issue. And don’t forget to internally link to other posts/pages on your website to keep readers engaged and a quick way to find additional info on the topic you’re linking to.
12. Creating a New Revenue Stream
Depending on what type of business you have, your blog could be an additional source of income through monetizing. There are several ways to do this. For instance, you could run banner ads and/or affiliate links on your blog, or build an email list of subscribers to promote your own products or services or those of others. Always have one Call to Action (CTA) within a post – such as signing up for a newsletter or offering something free like an SEO audit or consultation.
13. Helping You Spotlight Causes And Organizations You Care About
Philanthropy and giving back to others is not only a big part of most businesses’ missions but a popular blogging topic. Whether you have 8 or 80 employees, chances are you’ve identified at least a handful of causes and/or organizations you’re passionate about. As a business owner, you can certainly take the lead on this.
Are you an animal lover? Does a family member or close friend suffer from an illness? Are you an advocate for education, the arts, literacy, homelessness, or some other cause? Use your blog to help spread the word, especially if your office is holding a fundraiser or special awareness day to build more support.
14. Promoting Your Company’s News
Finally, a corporate blog is a great in-house PR tool. If you don’t spread the word about the great things going on at your company, who will? Use your blog as you would any other media outlet. Post press releases, articles that are written by or about your company or individual staff members, and any other corporate news you’d like to share. People won’t know how great your company is if you don’t tell them, and tell them in as many different ways as you can!
