5 Reasons Why Your Business Should Be Blogging

So you’ve taken the time to create a website and now that you’ve got your business on the web you can just sit back and watch the customers roll in, right? Well… not exactly. Just having a presence on the Internet isn’t enough. You’ve got to be proactive if you want to engage your customers, create a loyal following, and cultivate leads.

One way you can be proactive is to blog. Why is this a good idea? I’ve got 5 great reasons- but first, let’s start at the very basics.

There seems to be a bit of confusion around blogging. The blog itself is the page on your website that you post on. Blog posts are the individual articles that you write. So if I had a pet grooming business, my blog could be called something catchy like ‘Pretty Kitty,’ and my posts could be on topics such as ‘why it’s important to groom your pet regularly’ or ‘what you should look for in a dog groomer.’ The word blogging basically refers to the action of creating and posting your content. So back to where we started; why should you blog? Blogging is important to your business because it can:

Drive Traffic to Your Site– The more quality blog posts you write, the more chances you’ll have at someone coming across your blog out of the blue when they’re looking for information. It’s quite possible that people could stumble upon your blog first, and then discover that you also offer products and services related to that.

Position Your Brand as an Industry Leader– You’re good at what you do, so why not share a little of that knowledge? When you create posts that give your audience useful and timely information, you quickly become a reliable resource for them. That trust can transfer into customer relationships, and then loyal fans.

Increase Your Search Engine Optimization– Because you have so much relevant content on your website due to your blog, you’ll rank higher when someone searches for keywords related to your business. You can even take this one step higher and optimize everything for the web. Here are some great tips on how you can boost your SEO.

Give You A Platform to Test Out New Ideas– Are you thinking about coming out with a new product or service and aren’t quite sure how your customers will react to it? Write a blog post about it and test the waters. Most blogs allow users to leave comments, and that feedback can be very valuable

Help You Develop and Maintain Customer Relationships- Along with the feedback that customers leave on blogs- this is also your time to voice your opinion and let your customers get to know you. Maybe you write a blog post on the members of your team to help your customers put a face to a name. There are many things you can do with a blog to not only develop those relationships, but also maintain them.

Not sure what to write about? Check out this archived webinar for brainstorming ideas.

Valyn Reinig, IASourceLink.