What's the big deal with blogging?
Whenever we build a new website for a customer, one of the first questions we ask is "will you be needing a blog on your new website?".
This question catches most people off guard. Blogging is just not something they have considered. Even those who have considered adding a blog to their website usually haven't gone ahead with it for various reasons:
"I don't have the time"
"Who would read my blogs anyway?"
"I have better things to focus on"
"Blogging isn't going to increase my sales"
"My customers don't read blogs"
Does any of this sound familiar? Let's address the one question that really needs to be answered; WHY BLOG?
Let's start by defining what a blog is. It's a section of your website (sometimes it's the entire website) where you can talk about your industry, your business, a specific product/service or just about anything related to your main activity.
Three main ways a blog will help your business get more customers:
1. DEMONSTRATE YOUR EXPERTISE
By including a blog on your website, you can use your expertise to empower the reader with information relating to your business without selling. This serves multiple purposes. Firstly, it educates the reader on a topic which they have some level of interest in (they wouldn't bother reading it if they didn't have at least a slight interest). The reader can use this information to make an informed decision on a problem/desire they have. Secondly, it proves to the reader that you are an expert. If they decide that your product or service is necessary, who are they going to think of first?
That's right. YOU!
2. BUILD TRUST
For many businesses, the customer will not be ready to purchase right away. There is an information gathering process that the customer will go through. First they will determine if your product/service fulfils their need, and then they will determine which provider of this product/service is the right choice. Sometimes this choice will be made based on price alone, but often it will be the business they trust the most.
Blogging allows you to build that trust.
3. BOOST YOUR SEARCH RANKING
One of the other great benefits of blogging is how it can boost your search SEO (search engine optimisation). That is the ranking your website achieves in search results. Whenever someone is searching for keywords relating to a product/service you sell, the search engine will "crawl" the internet for those keywords and will give a higher ranking to websites that have more of those keywords. Therefore, when you are blogging it is important you are aware of the relevant keywords that your customers will use to find you and use these wherever you can. If you're not sure on what keywords are trending in your industry, you can use tools like Google's Keyword Planner to help.
In short, better SEO leads to more people finding your website which leads to more customers.
You can also use your blog in conjunction with a mailing list. If you haven't read our Mailing List Series you can check it out here.
Thank you for reading Part 1 of our blogging series. We hope you can see the benefits a blog can bring to your business.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of the blogging series, where we will cover WHAT TO BLOG ABOUT.