5 Benefits Of Blogging For Small Businesses

Regular blogging is one of the best marketing and business strategies small business owners can employ. Blogs can help establish your brand identity, engage your audience, and generate conversions. They are excellent tools for keeping your existing and potential customers well informed of updates to your services, any offers or events you are running as well as giving your customers the peace of mind that your company is still functioning and ready to assist them at any time.

Here are some of the key benefits of blogging for business:

1. A Blog Can Help You Optimise Your Website For Search Engines

Those who run their blog on their company website, adding fresh content on a regular basis means more company web pages are indexed by search engines. This is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to improve your long-term, organic search rankings. Moreover, if you’re diligent about sharing your posts via your social networking sites, you can start driving more traffic back to your web pages right away. In the short-term, not only will this influx of traffic give you far more opportunities to convert, but it will also move you closer to the top of search results pages.

2. Establish Direct Connections with Individual Members Of Your Audience

Blogs give company owners the opportunity to pique the interests of their markets in ways that other businesses are not. The sky is the limit when choosing your material. You can go well-beyond crafting how-to posts or blogging about maintenance and troubleshooting. You can talk about how your materials are sourced, the history of your products or services, and any relevant, current events that relate to your industry. This strategy is an excellent way to make your posts go viral. When searching for subjects, try looking at the most popular searches for the day. Then, choose a topic that relates to your services and products and jump right into the public discussion. In no time at all, you’ll be engaging in direct conversations with individual customers and prospects in a personal, personable way.

3. Establish A Relatable Brand Image

While website content tends to be very formal and direct, blog writing is significantly more personable and relaxed. As such, blogging can help you develop a brand image that people can relate to. This will in turn, foster trust, which is key for making conversions and keeping your customers loyal. This, however, is not the only way in which blogs help small business owners establish themselves as trustworthy. Every insightful, knowledgeable post that you publish will set you apart as an industry authority. When consumers need answers to questions that pertain to your niche, they’ll know that they can always turn to you and the content you provide.

4. Answer Important, Pre-Purchase Questions

All buyers have a series of questions that they’ll need answered before parting with their hard-won cash. Moving buyers through these questions will expedite them through the typical purchasing process. When you offer answers to common, pre-purchase questions via your blog, you’re basically ensuring that your prospects will still be around when they’re ready to convert. Companies who don’t blog often lose business by having consumers navigate away from their websites in search of essential information.

5. Solicit Feedback That Helps You Expand and Improve Your Operations

Maintaining a business blog can be an incredibly interactive experience. Rather than engaging in a one-sided conversation, you can encourage readers to comment and ask questions about your content. Taking time to read through and respond to these replies is a step towards building meaningful and long-lasting relationships with your current and potential customers. These efforts will allow you to learn more about what people really want, identify different pain points, and seek suggestions for new product or service development.

With all that said, regular blogging can be hard work. If you’d like help keeping yours fresh and up to date feel free to contact me here.