Read time: ~7 minutes (which is shocking because I have a lot to say about blogs)
Updated: April 9, 2025
Photo by Kenny Eliason
There are 600 million blogs on the internet. On research days it can feel like you’ve personally scrolled through at least a million of them.
Not without reason, blogs have a pretty bad rep — there are a lot of shitty blogs out there.
- The ones that feel like they were written by AI (and probably were).
- The ones that follow that insufferable format (what is [TOPIC], why do you need [TOPIC], what are the benefits of [TOPIC])….
- The ones that are 250 words and you don’t even understand how that came up in your search.
- The ones that promise value but waste your time leaving with you absolutely nothing but a lazy sales pitch.
So I can understand how the idea of blogging for your business doesn’t seem… enticing. Not to mention it’s another thing to do, another platform to manage, contributing to the content overloaded world we live in.
But I promise, when done right (with skill, effort, and expertise) blogs can pay off BIG TIME for your long-term brand awareness, traffic, and overall authority.
Let’s talk about it.
What Is A Blog
You know what a blog is but I still get asked what it is.
- How long does it need to be?
- Can it be images?
- Can I use it as a portfolio?
- Do I need to be posting one blog a week?
- Can I call it something other than ‘blog’?
Unfortunately the answer depends.
It depends on your goals, your brand, the industry, what your competitors are doing, and what your clients want.
But that’s the beauty of working with an SEO profesh like myself. On a retainer plan, I’m creating content briefs for you and even sourcing and working with a writer to complete the blog.
You don’t have to worry about any of these questions. That’s for me to figure out because it varies for every brand.
How Might A Business Use A Blog
Honestly, this could be a whole separate post but to keep it quick. A blog is extremely versatile.
I was on a podcast the other week talking about Ethical SEO and I said “Ethical SEO kind of means nothing which means it means everything”. There is no agreed-upon definition of ‘ethical SEO’ so it can mean anything we want it to mean. It’s beautiful and terrifying.
The same can be said of blogs.
The format we’re all using now, worked the best for the majority of people. So it became the template that stuck. But it’s not the only way.
The purpose of your blog is twofold:
- Rank for more keywords related to your business.
- Communicate and build trust with your audience.
We want most blogs to do both of those things but some will only be able to do one. So have a category for portfolio pieces, client testimonials + stories, newsletter archive, product launches, employee highlights, company events, investment projects, etc.
The possibilities are endless.
7 Reasons Blogging Is Important For Small Businesses
1. It gets people in the door and buying
Short answer — a blog helps people find you and buy from you by answering questions, building trust and leading people right to your offer.
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.
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. Play the long game without losing your mind
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 major differences. And those results are going to pay off well into the future with lower-effort 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. Prove you know your stuff without having to be the loudest on the internet
The language we use on our websites is important, yes, absolutely. But we can’t fit everything in there. Nor do we want to — and that’s where a blog comes in.
I hear it time and time again from sustainable brands — they don’t want to use sustainable words because they don’t feel like they’re doing it perfectly. And I get it — with critical thinking being at an all time low and the chances of getting called out by a TikToker are never zero — I get it.
BUT your blog is the perfect place to talk about all of that. Especially the complex stuff.
And the best part is you can build trust without feeling like you’re shouting into the void.
You don’t have to be the loudest, most-followed voice on the internet to be seen as an expert. Consistently blogging shows people you know your stuff — and that you care enough to explain it.
People want to know the information but they also want personality: your perspective, values, and insights picked up along the way.
The more helpful you are, the more people trust you. And trusted brands? They get the (repeat) sale.
4. Stay top of mind — Familiarity builds trust
Brand awareness applies to small brands as well. You don’t need to be a household name — just the first one your client thinks of.
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 aesthetics.
- It’s the words you use
- The humor — or lack thereof
- The vibe you give off when someone scrolls your site or reads your blog
- It’s how people remember you — and what they say when you’re not in the room.
Blogging helps you dive into that familiarity and strengthen it over time. Each post gives your audience a chance to get to know you (your brand) better: your voice, values, perspective.
That consistency (and value! Let’s please not forget about value) makes you memorable.
Not in a “household name” way—just in the “right people think of you when they need what you do” kind of way. That’s the goal.
Bonus? Brand awareness and authority also help your SEO. Search engines look at brand authority — if your brand is showing up consistently and shares legit value, you’re more likely to be seen as trustworthy and work your way up in rankings.
5. Turns on the green light for more traffic
People can’t work with you if they can’t find you. They can’t find you unless you’re using the right keywords in the right places to help them find you.
Unless your site has a blog, there just aren’t that many places for people or search engines to land.
Think of each blog post like a new open street — it’s another way for someone to discover your brand.
More posts = more rankable keywords = more chances to show up in search results (the right ones, full of people looking for what you do).
A 10 page website is going to give you MAX 50 keyword opportunities. 50 literal keywords you can rank for. That’s not that many avenues for your ideal audience to find you.
Add a blog? Now you’ve got HUNDREDS.
Blogging helps you attract visitors through search engines, yes—but also from social shares, backlinks, and even email. It’s not just traffic. It’s targeted, high-intent, ready-to-take-action traffic.
6. It fuels every other area of marketing
Content takes time.
Blogs take time.
Reels take time.
It all takes time!
Blogs can be broken down and repurposed into multiple pieces of content.
Use this blog as an example. I could take these 7 points and turn each point into an Instagram post, a reel, a tweet — that’s now 28 pieces of content.
Add in the fact that blogs grow and stay relevant for a long time and you can change the graphics or adjust the language and repurpose that same content in a year from now.
Use what you already have and save time coming up with fresh new content.
7. Be a human with a voice and values; not just a homepage
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 (shitty) 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 your audience loves and relates to
- 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.
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