EVERY COMPANY THESE DAYS HAS A WEBSITE. BUT WEBSITES ONLY GO SO FAR. EVERY BUSINESS NEEDS A BLOG TO REACH MORE CUSTOMERS AND EXPAND THEIR MARKET.
I have been blogging for many years. I wrote the Green Mash Up blog for The Fifth Estate focusing on environmental issues for cities. And for over a decade, I wrote the Sox First blog for the California company Creative Weblogging. Sox First focused on the Sarbanes-Oxley US corporate law, business strategy, business ethics and politics. It was so popular and generated so much traffic (I did it twice a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year) that I was a guest on Radio National. Sox First also inspired my second book Organisations Behaving Badly. My Talking Business podcast goes on my personal blog every week. It now has a global audience close to 9000.
In the process of writing a blog on a specific subject or theme, you have to think it through. You do research and you become an expert. That makes blogging a terrific way to connect with your audience. They turn to you as the expert on the subject.
Seven reasons why your business should blog.
- Greater penetration. The stats show that content marketing through blogging is more effective than traditional marketing. The blog engages with a personal message. 77% of internet users regularly read blog posts, 71% of B2B buyers consume blog content and 60% of people purchase a product after originally reading a blog post about it.
- Thought leadership. The blog is a good tool to not only let people know what’s happening in your business, but also in your industry. Because the blog gives you the scope to connect with customers in a more informal way, the blog allows you to engage in thought leadership which is the most powerful and underrated marketing strategy. When you can demonstrate superior thought leadership, by positioning yourself as an authority, if you do it in a way that’s congruent with your brand, then you get the like factor built in because people connect with you at an emotional level. Does one have to be contentious? It helps to have a compelling viewpoint, something a little left of centre, a unique viewpoint that will get attention and will differentiate the reseller around their brand and values. They should provide some sort of commentary around the industry and what they’re doing to fix it. Russell Brand, who became the hero to – and the voice of – the disengaged and the disenfranchised and who speaks the language of his target audience is the perfect model for resellers marketing themselves with thought leadership. Other examples could include Malcolm Gladwell, Arianna Huffington, Elon Musk, Joe Regan and Brene Brown. All this can be done with a blog.
- Build traffic. Keywords and SEO have to be a part of your strategy. To brainstorm these awesome long-tail keywords, type in a phrase in Google and see what Google’s auto-complete suggestions are. The more often you update your blog, the more traffic it will receive. Incorporating links, using photos and writing good headlines will also increase your traffic. Use lots of links. Companies with blogs generate 55% more website visits than companies without blogs, almost 7 times more traffic to their website and get indexed by search engines a massive 434% more often than companies without an active blog. Another way to build traffic through SEO is to use Google Trends.
- Build Trust and Customer Loyalty. Businesses that blog get 55% more visitors than businesses that don’t. This builds customer loyalty, Engagement is essential and the blog should be a platform to connect with customers Responding quickly to comments builds trust and engagement, giving the business a real competitive advantage. It allows you to build long-term relationships with your emerging community
- Build communication: The blog is a tool for you to learn and communicate with your customers. It will help your create partnerships with your community by understanding and engaging with your audience’s concerns. You can start discussions about a topic and market trends and learn what your customers are really concerned about. The blog will also allow you to share your company’s achievements and give your customers information about what’s in the pipeline.
- Increase sales. Businesses that blog once or twice a month generate 67% more sales than companies that don’t blog. 92% of business blogs that update several times a day acquire at least one customer through their blog
- A presence in social media. Every time you post a new blog on social media – Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest — it helps expose your business to a new audience that might not know you yet. It builds your market and customer base. Kepios analysis shows there are 4.55 billion social media users around the world in October 2021, equating to 57.6% of the total global population. If you’re not posting your blog on social media, you are losing the chance to connect with a global market.
If you need an expert blogger, come to me at leon@leongettler.com or phone me at 0411 745 193,’’
