10 Reasons to Keep an Active Business Blog
Publishing a business blog is an important part of any marketing strategy, but many businesses launch one, not realizing that maintaining it is just as critical. Quality content is key, and if you’re a business professional you have lots to offer based on expertise in your field.
Here are 10 reasons why you might want to use that expertise to keep your business blog active.
1. Drive Traffic to Your Business Website
Customers who read your blog are 97% more likely to click on your website. That improves your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) making your website more likely to rise to the top of organic searches. The more you blog, the more traffic you get.
In addition, blog sites that post daily get almost double the traffic than sites that post monthly or less.
2. Inform Customers About the Good Work You Do
85% of customers like companies that give back, and more than half of all small businesses donate to charity. In fact, small businesses typically share about 10% of their money, time or goods to benefit others; 90% of their contributions stay in the local community.
However, many of those same businesses forget to share that fact. Failing to write a blog post about your community contributions means you’re missing out on new customers who would be drawn to your business if they only knew.
Take this opportunity to write a blog post about a community project your business has supported and why.
3. Share Testimonials to Earn the Trust of New Clients
92% of customers trust referrals from people they know, about 50% make purchases after researching products and services online, and 60% of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading their blog. So to drive more traffic to your website and inspire them to call your phone number, post testimonials on your blog.
4. Find Out What Customers Want
Marketing experts say, “retention is the new acquisition.” But how do you keep customers if you don’t know what they need? That’s where your blog comes in. Provide information on services and benefits, then ask readers for their feedback. Do they need a haircut before 7 am? A notary who will drive to their house? Or would they like a certain kind of tea when they have the flu?
Reading and responding to blog post comments is a great way to retain customers, keep your business relevant, and find out what your customers want. Add a comments section on your blog so your customers can ask questions.
5. Promote a Positive Employer Brand so Employees Want to Work for You
Share a blog post whenever someone in your company receives an honor, such as a college degree, electrical license, or best hairdresser award. You can even use photos and certificates that you create for employee recognition like ‘top sales agent,’ ‘highest rated for customer service,’ or ‘fastest notary in the west.’ This demonstrates a positive work culture and people like working in places where recognition and appreciation are generously commonplace.
6. Analyze your Marketing Demographics so You Can Target Your Advertising Dollars Effectively
Once you have a blog frequently, you can use the back-end data to find out more about your customers and which blog posts they’re reading. You can also find out which links they’re using or not. That information helps inform your overall marketing strategy so you can spend your advertising dollars wisely.
Invest some time into learning how Google Analytics works and in some SEO software.
7. Establish Your Authority in Your Field
If you’re a plumber, remind readers when and how to winterize. If you’re a real estate agent, remind first-time home buyers about some low-interest loan programs. If you’re a gardening center, post information on when to plant bulbs or how to trim roses. You’re the business expert, and by sharing your expertise, you’ll be helping readers with their everyday problems. That builds customer loyalty. Then, when they need an expert, who do you think they’ll contact? You.
8. Help Your Business Partners Grow
Most business owners have vendors and business partners they use on a regular basis and like to recommend. rite a blog post about them. If you’re a moving company, what cleaning service do you recommend to do move-in and move-out cleans? Who do you use as a security company? What storage facility do you recommend for the items they don’t want to move?
Your blog readers are likely to use a company you recommend, so include a link to that business’ website and tips on how to get the best deal. Then call the business, and ask if they’ll reciprocate. It’s a win for both of you.
9. Earn Extra Cash
In addition to providing helpful information and earning goodwill, you can make money on your blog by selling products online, doing affiliate marketing (promoting a vendor product and getting paid for click-throughs), offering short training courses, or by allowing advertising on your blog.
10. Get Employees Involved in Sharing Their Expertise
The nice thing about blog posts is that they can be shared via social media, so get your employees involved too. Let them share their unique expertise, photos of work products they’ve produced, and pictures of the team having fun. Add social share buttons on your blog so that posts can be shared via social media sites like Twitter and LinkedIn.
Then ask employees to share those posts on their own social media accounts. Every time they share a post from your blog or a link from your website, your SEO numbers go up, and your website rises in organic search results. In addition, sharing posts improves employee engagement. Happy engaged employees equal happy you.
The Bottom Line
Maintaining your blog improves how it ranks in organic search, drives traffic to your primary business website and sets you up as a subject matter expert in your field. Businesses that blog daily get more traffic than those who publish blog posts once a month or less. So we hope you’ll use these 10 reasons to motivate yourself and your team of experts to keep blogging.