5 Reasons You Need a Business Blog Now

Does your business website have a blog? If your answer is no, you are missing out on one of the best and most affordable business tools available. There are as many personal reasons for blogging as there are bloggers on the internet, but when it comes to business blogging there are some sound business reasons for blogging.

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There are few businesses today that will not benefit in some way from a web presence. Multiple surveys and studies show that your customers are looking online for the goods and services they need even when it’s a local need. It’s not the phone book or the newspaper people turn to first to find a business, it’s the internet. If your business isn’t there, your business might not be here a few years from now.

Claiming your piece of internet real estate doesn’t have to be difficult or costly. Establishing a web presence is as easy as choosing a domain name and setting up a WordPress website for your business.

Here are five more reasons you need a business blog for your business success.

Get Your Message Out

Many businesses use direct mail, newsletters and telemarketing to market themselves and let potential customers know about current and upcoming offerings and specials. These methods can be expensive, time consuming and, sometimes even detrimental to business growth. What if there was a way to regularly market to your customers at a mutually convenient time with little or no expense?

Well, there is—it’s called a blog. A blog allows you to tell the world what you do and what you’re selling without any restrictions. It is an opportunity to get the word out without being interrupted. You can use a blog to share your latest company news, upcoming sales and events—anything you’d put in a newsletter and more—with customers and potential customers for just the cost of webhosting.

And for just a few dollars more each month, you can use an email marketing manager like Mailerlite or Mailchimp to deliver each blog post directly into your customers’ inboxes where they can easily read and share it with their networks. A blog gives your business reach to an unlimited number of potential customers who may find you through web searches, sharing from friends and social media sites. Your blog marketing is limited only by your imagination and your creativity.

Establish Yourself as an Authority

When you need answers, who do you turn to? Do you poll your friends and take the best answer or do you try and get your information from an expert? Wouldn’t you like to be the expert in your industry?

Regular blogging with news, information and insights about your niche will help establish your authority and build your credibility as an expert in your field. Each blog post should cover one aspect or one tip related to your area of expertise. The best blog posts contain useful information for your customers along with a call to action, whether it encourages them to buy your product, call you for information or even just share or comment on your blog post.

As you regularly share information and educate your clients about your services and products and how they can best use them, you will become their go-to resource and the one they will share with their friends and associates. And, as you continue to produce that content the search engines will see you as an authority as well.

Expand Your Reach

Writing a blog and sharing your content on the worldwide web gives you an opportunity to expand the reach of your business far beyond any geographic boundaries. When you publish a blog post, your content can conceivably be read around the globe, bringing you potential customers well outside the reach of traditional advertising and marketing.

Help Your Site Get Found Online

Every business wants to rank high in the search results. You can pay an SEO company to optimize your site and hope it does the trick (don’t ever pay for someone who claims they can guarantee you the top spot). You can use online ads or pay for placement, but that can be expensive and may or may not be effective. Or you can write a weekly blog post that’s relevant to your business.

Google (and the other major search engines) love fresh content and gives precedence to regularly updated sites. While a well-crafted static website can give you some standing with the search engines, a blog constantly updated with relevant content gives the search engines more to index and will help your blog move closer to that coveted top spot in the search results. Instead of trying to continually rewrite the pages on your site, use a blog to provide a steady stream of fresh, relevant content on your website. This is also the reason you want your blog to reside at the same domain as your website. Avoid subdomains, blog domains, or hosting on a separate site.

Build Business Relationships

A blog is another opportunity to build relationships with customers and potential customers. Through your posts and an active commenting system, you are giving readers not only valuable information but an opportunity to get to know you and to interact with you and build trust. When you invite comments, questions, and feedback on your posts, and respond to them in a timely manner, you invite potential customers to build a relationship.

Feedback and questions can also tell you what it is your customers need and want to know about your business, providing you with ideas for future blog posts. In addition to posts about your products and services, you can use your blog to share information about business milestones, social news about your business, shout-outs for your customers and as a means to get to know you and your business.

Besides writing and posting on your business blog, you want to share your posts on your social media pages and accounts. And you want to engage with readers by asking and answering questions.

Bonus: Your Competition Has a Blog

Yes, they do. Do a web search for businesses in your niche. Look at how many of them are already blogging. So, if you aren’t blogging, not only are you missing out on a great business-building tool, but you’re behind the rest of your industry.

Are you blogging? Do you need help getting started or getting it restarted? Let’s talk. Message me here to schedule a free consultation to learn more about why you need a business blog now to help your business grow.