Why Your Business Needs a Blog
If you’re like most of the online entrepreneurs I run into, you’re probably asking yourself this question:
To blog or not to blog?
Blogging for business seems daunting and time consuming, and many online business owners are doubting the effectiveness of blogs.
I want to clear the air once and for all, so in this article we’re going to cover the benefits of blogging for online businesses, and why your business needs a blog.
Before we get started, I just have one thing I want to say.
Blogging without purpose or strategy is pointless.
That type of blogging isn’t worth your time. So let’s talk about the type of blogging that is.
What Exactly Is Blogging These Days?
If you ask a random person on the street (or, odds are, any of your family members who aren’t familiar with digital marketing), they’ll tell you that blogging is dead.
But I’m gonna let you in on a secret:
Blogging is definitely not dead. It’s just evolved.
See, when most people think of blogging, they think of personal blogging. But blogging for business is something else entirely.
The Purpose of Blogging for Business: Content Marketing
Content marketing is an essential part of any online business’s marketing strategy. And blogging is an effective and efficient way to grow your business.
How?
We’ll get more into that in the next section, but here’s the general idea: appearing in search results with helpful, well-written articles is one of the best ways to grow your business.
“Really?” you’re probably thinking. “The best?”
Yep! Not only are you reaching potential leads who are literally searching for someone like you, but once a blog post is written, it can live on to grow your business for years to come.
Why Blog? Top Benefits of Blogging for Business
There are lots of reasons to add blogging to your content marketing strategy. And if I’m being honest, I don’t know if I’d ever start an online business without including a blogging strategy. That’s how effective I think it is!
So what are the best benefits and advantages of blogging for your business?
Let’s dive in!
1. Get More Traffic
Of course I’m going to start here! The more traffic you get to your website, the better off you are! (As long as the traffic is targeted and your website is optimized for conversions.)
Through blogging, I’ve been able to get thousands upon thousands of pageviews to my website, which has helped me to grow my email list and make passive income selling my digital products.
Most of my traffic comes from Google search, and the rest of it comes from Pinterest. Both are great for growing my email list and making passive sales!
2. Rank Higher on Google with SEO
The more high-quality pages your website has, the more chances you have to rank in search results! And with a decent SEO strategy, you can do that.
As I said above, most of my monthly traffic comes from Google. I’ve worked hard to get my blog posts to rank on Google, and it pays off every day.
Here are the basics to get you started with an SEO strategy:
- Do keyword research
- Work on getting backlinks from relevant, high-authority sites
- Write in-depth, high-quality, longform blog posts
- Have patience! Ranking in Google takes time
3. Establish Yourself as an Authority
This one is a no-brainer. When you read an article that teaches you something new, you begin to see the writer of that piece as someone who knows what they’re talking about.
So what happens when you have a backlog of content that answers all your readers’ questions? You have lots of content for them to binge!
And, as they keep reading, they’ll begin to see you as an expert in your niche.
4. Collect Leads on Autopilot
This is one of my favorite benefits of blogging for business. Because of the work I’ve put into creating content for my blog, I don’t have to work to build my email list. My blog posts do it for me!
What do I do?
Quite simply, I write content I know my ideal reader/client/customer is searching for.
Then, I add in a relevant “upgrade” to the blog post: often a PDF full of tips, a free mini course, etc. This is typically called a lead magnet or an opt-in freebie.
Then I give it to my readers in exchange for them signing up to my email list!
The best part? I don’t have to put in any effort to do this, once my blog posts are written.
Plus, after they sign up, you have an opportunity to make some passive income with a tripwire product.
See? I told you blogging is worth it.
5. Build Trust with Your New Leads
Typically, your readers from search engines or social media won’t know who you are. But if you give them exactly what they’re looking for, that goes a long way in building up your trust factor.
Here are a couple other ways to build trust with your readers:
- Have an image of yourself in the sidebar of your blog
- Include a video so people can get familiar with your face
- Tell anecdotes about relevant lessons you learned
- Don’t be afraid to let your personality show through in your writing
6. Make Passive Income
Yep! You can make tons of passive income with a blog. Especially if you sell digital products and courses. But even if you don’t!
Here are a couple ways:
- Affiliate marketing
- Promote your digital products and courses
- Grow your email list on autopilot, and then put your subscribers through an automated sales funnel
- Use a tripwire product to make passive income right after people sign up for your list
7. Boost Your Chances of Getting Shares
Here’s the great thing about blog posts: they can be shared the day you publish, and the next week, and the next month, and again five years down the road.
What am I saying? The life of a blog post is virtually endless.
And because of that, the amount of social media shares a blog post gets can add up to some pretty impressive numbers.
Plus, your chances of having a post go viral increase with every new post you publish.
All of those shares equate to a boost in traffic, conversions, leads, and income.
8. Repurpose Your Blog Content to Save Time
Just because you have a blogging strategy doesn’t mean you should neglect your other content marketing strategies.
But instead of starting from scratch, you can repurpose your content to save yourself time.
If you have a ton of social media content, you can repurpose it into blog posts.
Or you can do the opposite and condense your blog posts into social media content or emails. Whichever works best for you!
Just remember:
Content creation gets time consuming really fast. You can maximize your time investment by repurposing it!
9. Increase Your Visibility with Content Syndication
Wondering what the heck I’m talking about?
Here’s how HubSpot defines content syndication:
“Content Syndication means republishing the same piece of content — an article, a video, an infographic, etc. — on one or more different websites. Publications, big and small, like to syndicate content because it helps them give fresh information to their readers. The original authors also benefit from this practice since it gets their brand in front of a new audience. It’s a win-win.”
This is sort of like content repurposing, except you’re giving your content to other publications in your niche. Or, if you can’t think of any, you can always republish your content on Medium and earn some extra cash through the Medium Partner Program.
Pro Tip: When you republish your content, make sure to use a canonical tag to let search engines know that your article is the original.
Should Your Online Business Have a Blog?
Yes! In my opinion, the importance of blogging is HUGE for small and online businesses.
Not only will a blog help you with an SEO strategy, but it will also help you to build up passive traffic, email list signups, and income over time — as long as you play your cards right!
If you’re not sure how to do that, I’d recommend starting with this article:
