Read time: ~7 minutes (which is shocking because I have a lot to say about blogs)
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
Blogs are everywhere. It’s likely you either know someone who blogs professionally, you know someone who knows someone, or you follow one (or 4) yourself.
Blogs are probably most commonly associated at the personal level — parenting blogs, recipe blogs, lifestyle blogs, etc; but for B2B and B2C companies, blogs create an additional channel with which to reach your ideal audience.
Although it may be the first thing to pop into your head, a blog isn’t an online diary for you or for your business. A well-thought-out and well-executed blog is important for your small business.
A well-written blog can, at the very least:
- Increase sales
- Position you as a thought leader in the industry
- Build trust and credibility with your readers (which leads to more sales).
Don’t discount the importance of a blog for your small business. And keep on reading for 7 reasons that will make you say yes to starting a blog.
What Is A Blog?
A blog is simply a frequently updated web page containing discussions or informational ‘posts’ written in an informal or formal style. An online diary of sorts.
Blogs are great for
- People who like to read thoroughly
- For people who like to skim and get the general idea
- Repurposing into other content like instagram posts, reels, or TikToks
Google likes blogs and you want Google to like your blog because a regularly updated blog that is giving the people what they want is going to show up in higher rankings giving you more opportunity to be seen.
Is being seen by a blog actually helpful to my small business?
Does Blogging Help My Small Business
Yes!
When done right a blog provides content for your leads AND customers at all stages of the buyer journey.
BUT you (or your copywriter) need to do extensive keyword research and content planning before even publishing one post.
Because you may think you know what your audience wants, but if they’re not clicking and reading your blogs, it will show in your search rankings. If people aren’t clicking, Google doesn’t think you’re answering their questions, so it won’t move you up. If it doesn’t move you up in rankings, people can’t find you. And we don’t want that.
So instead of ‘guessing’ or ‘feeling’ what you think your audience wants, use the information available on the world wide web to know for a fact what your audience is searching for and what they need from you.
Before We Get Into Explaining The Importance Of A Blog For Your Business, Let’s Talk Keyword Research
Keyword research is exactly what it sounds like, but more complicated. (Isn’t everything?). The general idea is to create pieces of content for each stage of the buyer’s journey:
- Awareness
- Engagement
- Consideration
- Purchase
- Adoption
- Retention
- Expansion
- Advocacy
At each one of these stages you need to identify what questions people have and the keywords they’re using to search for the answers to those questions. Then comes the content mapping (creating the content plan) and the actual content itself.
So let’s get into it!
And if you know you already need help, fill out my contact form, I’d love to talk!
7 Reasons Blogging Is Important For Small Businesses
1. Increase sales & visibility
Simply put, creating a well-strategized blog with good, engaging content helps you show up in more search results. The more results you show up in, the more people are exposed to you, the more money you make.
As long as you’re making high-quality content, your blogs could bring you sales for years to come.
If you’re a restaurant owner of a restaurant located off a highway. Which location will perform better? One that is clearly visible from the highway and easy to get to after exiting? Or a location that can’t be seen from the highway and involves one or two stop signs and turns? Of course it’s the first. You could even have better food at the second location but if people can’t see it when they’re looking for it, they’re not going to go.
An SEO-optimized blog works the same way. Using SEO best practices and keyword research, we position your blog article “right off the highway” so when people are looking, you’re right there.
2. Build a long term strategy
Blogging is a long-term strategy. It. Takes. Time. Seriously.
Would you go to the gym for a week and expect your body to change? You might see some small changes, but if you stop after that week, so do the changes. Whereas if you create a plan based on your individual goals and commit to it for 6-12 months, you’re going to see those results. And those results are going to pay off well into the future with maintenance.
Depending on the keyword — and a variety of other things that contribute to a high ranking — blogs can take a minimum of 6 months to begin ranking. But the beauty of a blog is two-fold. The first is that your blog will continue to drive traffic for months or even years to come. The second is that you can continue to update blogs along the way to improve their ranking. Imagine putting the work in now, only to have a third or half of your sales coming from your blog content in 1-3 years! Yes, please!
3. Build trust, authority, and credibility
By consistently creating content around your product/service and the industry, you’re creating a place for people to learn. Use blogs to explain what your product or service is, why it’s important, the problems you solve, and more.
Share your expertise on the industry, what you’ve learned, and why you do what you do. As you continue to do this consistently, people will come to see you as an authority figure — a brand that knows what you’re talking about. When they have questions on the industry, they’re going to go to you first. Do this and people will trust you.
And people buy from brands they trust.
4. Build brand awareness
When you think of ‘branding’ you might think of color schemes, people saying ‘that’s not on-brand’ and if you just watched WeCrashed, font — Helvetica is not okay. But branding is so much more than that.
- It’s the language you use
- The humor — or lack thereof
- It’s the way you make people feel
- How you interact with your audience
- And the perception people have of your company
Through blogs you can express and grow your brand identity which helps build loyalty and trust with your audience and sets you apart from the competition. It doesn’t have to be as dramatic as KFC or Lake Superior’s Twitter accounts, but branding is your company’s personality. It’s an extension of your team and how someone would feel if they were doing face-to-face business with you.
5. Drive traffic
How do people find you if they don’t know you exist? How do people know what you have to offer if they can’t find it?
That’s where SEO and blogs come in.
Not only can you explain your products/services and the industry, but you can send people to landing pages you want them to go to, prompt them to sign up for your email list, give them a first time buyers discount — all through blogs!
But to drive traffic to your website, you have to do the keyword research and work to show up in the search results of a potential customer.
6. Create repurposable content
- Content takes time.
- Blogs take time.
- Reels take time.
- It all takes time!
A good blog should start around 1,200 words and can provide content that can be repurposed across all social media platforms. Use what you already have and save time coming up with fresh new content.
7. Engage with your audience – make it personal
Everything is online now and that’s how we want it. But scrolling through website after website, social media profile after social media profile can be impersonal and exhausting. There’s so much information that it’s actually hard to find what you’re looking for sometimes.
So be different.
- Offer something your competitors aren’t.
- Use your blog to engage with your audience.
- Talk about things they love
- Address things they hate
- Use their feedback from other platforms and discuss it
- Share your story
- Show pictures of your team, your office, your mascot.
It can seem silly when you’re doing it, but people want something to connect with. Create a community, encourage them to comment, respond to those comments. Use your blog as that bridge. Reach out to them in ways the competition isn’t. Treat them like they’re people and watch their loyalty and trust grow.
These are just a handful of the reasons behind the importance of blogging for small businesses. And the best news of it is that no matter how you’re feeling about a blog, I love it and I’m here to help you. So whether you need help with revamping an existing blog, creating one from scratch, or putting together a content plan, let’s talk!
You might also be interested in…
