We’ve told businesses or rather asked them “Why don’t you have a blog?”, and we usually get the same response – a blank stare. Why would we want to blog, is one of the answers we get sometimes, and an all-time favorite “Isn’t blogging as a hobby?”.
It is rather disconcerting how businesses overlook the importance of blogging. Most of the time it is because of ignorance and downright not being informed by whoever is responsible for their digital marketing. Yes, it is true that blogging is a hobby a lot of people take part in. There are literally hundreds of different types of blogs out there. Some people blog about their day-to-day, some about recipes. Others blog about other hobbies like hiking or traveling.
But what is the significance of blogging for businesses? We’ll cover all the reasons why businesses should start blogging in this post and give you an outline of the benefits of blogging. Let’s get started.
1. Blogging drives traffic
This is one of the most obvious reasons why more businesses should start blogging. Not only will it drive traffic to your website, but it will increase your SEO efforts. Remember, bots need content to crawl, no blog, less content, lower ranking.
2. It’s simple and easy to maintain
If you already have a website, adding another page specifically for your articles should not be too difficult, in fact, most platforms have a blog section built-in automatically, all you need to do is utilize this powerful tool. As far as general maintenance is concerned, if you have a company with a couple of employees, you can take turns in creating specialized content, each one showcasing their expertise. A simple example, but what it boils down to is it won’t be as time-consuming as a lot of people would assume.
3. Blogging allows you to connect with your audience
Blogging is like having a conversation with your audience, on a daily basis (or however frequently you plan on publishing content), in other words, you are nurturing your established relationships and encouraging others to take part and notice your company at the same time.
4. Blogging is the perfect jumping place for all content marketing
Content marketing is crucial for a lot of things, including SEO, and if you have an active blog, this should be the place you want prospects to end up. Not necessarily on the blog, but at your site. If you have an active blog and social media profiles, you can easily direct followers to your website. In other words, increased traffic to your site.
5. Blogging establishes your company as an industry expert
Your Klout will increase, as would your client base. Blogging will set you apart from your competitors and give you an authoritative voice in the industry you are operating in. If you offer multiple services, include other team members and have them write for your company’s blog as well.
6. Blogging can be used as a PR tool
What’s best about this is the fact that it won’t even cost you a cent. All you have to do is create unique, helpful, high-quality content and publish it on a regular basis and boom! Free PR right there.
7. Blogging allows you to share a piece of your company culture
This means your prospects and existing clients can get to know your company, inside and out. Not only is this great for building trust and increase loyalty in customers, it is of benefit to the overall company culture. People connect much easier to an abstract concept like a brand when they can relate to it – blogging will allow you to tell your company’s story and this will make your company relatable.
We hope that we have inspired you to put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard, and get started on your company’s blog straight away! If you are interested in reading more about blogging or digital marketing, we highly recommend subscribing to HubSpot’s blog, where they share real-time news on everything inbound. If you don’t have a website yet, and not sure which platform to use, be sure to check out this post.