Why should businesses blog? There are a myriad of reasons why writing a blog for your business is a great idea. For most business owners, it’s easy to go straight for the reasons why not to blog. Time? Lack of blogging knowledge? Can’t see the benefits? You’re planning to some day?

With advertising costs increasing and social media becoming noisier, content marketing through business blogging enables your business or brand to build an asset that will provide immediate results AND continue to pay you back long into the future.

The statistics paint an even more promising picture on why you should start blogging. You see, on average, companies with blogs produce 67%+ more leads per month, according to this study.

What would 67% more leads mean for your business?

Back in 2011, I conducted a study of 700 business owners, which revealed 46% of business owners didn’t feel they needed a blog. We’ve come a long way in 9 years. Now, 90% of organisations market with content.

The concern for those business owners who don’t blog is the edge they’re giving their competitors. Think about it. If I’m looking for a leadership coach to help me communicate better with my team, will I find your business first – or at all?

My business was built off the back of this blog and over time it’s been a key driver in my business’ growth.

Here my take on…

Why should businesses blog?

1. Attracts traffic to your website

Blogging is the best way to get onto Google’s front page and drive consistent traffic to your website. By having fresh, quality content on your blog regularly, you’re helping Google recognise that you exist. A static website is less favoured by Google.

The more content you have and the more strategic you are around keywords, the more chances you’ll show up in front of the right people when they’re in the midst of searching to solve a challenge.

As in the leadership coach example above, if someone types in SEO keywords and phrases related to the problems, pains and aspirations you solve, you want them to find you.

But it’s more than just SEO keywords. You can attract traffic to your website by sharing that content on social media platforms or through advertising that will drive people back to quality content that builds trust, authority and a connection.

Which leads us to the next point…

2. Your content shared on social media

People are more likely to share interesting content you create on your blog. This not only helps you rank higher in Google thanks to linking to social media sites, but also sends your message to an audience that may not have otherwise discovered it.

Ensure you have social media sharing buttons on your blog posts to make it easy for people to share your content to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest. And don’t be afraid to ask. There are other methods you can use, like ClickToTweet (try the link below to see how it works).

Don’t forget to share your own content too. If you’re struggling to come up with content idea for your social media plan, then a great place to start is the content you’ve created on your blog.

3. It positions you as a thought leader and authority

The content you create enables you to position yourself as an expert in your area, an authority on your topic and thought leader in your field.

To achieve this, you simply need to answer the questions your ideal client is asking and searching for. There are a lot of blogs out there now, so provide your unique perspective to stand out and attract the right types of people to you. Be a leader.

Sometimes our content is as much about attracting the right people to us as it is about repelling the people we don’t want to work with.

Creating blog content can also help humanise your brand. People do business with people, so when they read your content you want them to hear your voice. We’re more inclined to buy from someone we feel we know — especially online — than one we don’t. It’s about building trust.

If we blend our efforts with SEO keywords and our ability to position ourselves as an authority, then blogging can also help with your offline and digital PR efforts. If a journalist needs an organising expert to quote in a story, they’re likely to Google “Australian organising expert”. Would you come up in Google for your niche or does your competition rank higher?

4. Build your email database

If blogging has done one thing on autopilot for my business, it’s grow my email list full of perfect clients.

I have people who Google certain words every day and find my blog posts. Those blog posts hit the pain points and speak to the aspirations of the people I most want to work with. That content, in turn, is building trust and authority with them as they read.

Those blog posts then invite them to opt-in to my lead magnets to join my email list. Once they’re on my email list, they’re nurtured and then invited to my offers and services.

This means I don’t have to spend money on advertising AND I’m attracting people who are perfectly aligned with the offers and services I have each and every day.

If we’re smart about the types of content we create and where in the marketing funnel that falls, you can create lead magnets that lead to your own email nurturing sequences and paid offers. It all this happens without you constantly having to hustle or spend time and money on perfecting ads.

5. It builds relationships

Blogging was where I started online, not business. I was offered big sponsorship opportunities from brands and so focused more on building relationships and a community. Back in those days, we spent more time on our blogs commenting back and forth to build relationships. There were regular faces which would pop up and comment, and I looked forward to that.

While blog comments seem to be sparse these days as we use social media more for communication, blogging is still a great way for your audience to feel connected to you.

As mentioned before, they can hear your voice through your writing. And you can even embed audio or videos into blogs to further enhance that relationship.

When people do comment on your blog posts, be sure to respond. Relationships are about two-way communication.

It’s funny, but I wrote this blog post originally a few years back and am now updating it in 2020 – right in the midst of COVID-19. In the original version of this post, I wrote: “If another recession hits and buyers become more frugal, you’ll already have a relationship — and have built trust — with your customers. This means they’re more likely to want to do business with you.”

How true!

6. It builds a long-term asset

The real answer for why should businesses blog doesn’t lie in the short-term results mentioned above.

When there are so many strategies that promise quick fix results, but then come and go as fast as the results, we can become tired with online marketing strategies.

My strategy has always been to build assets that will pay me back long into the future. Blogging is at the core of that. I know each time I blog, I’m building another pillar that will drive traffic, that will lead to growing my database and that will allow me to invite another person to work with me.

But the beauty of it all is that when I’m away on holiday or I’m working on a major project for a client, I don’t have to stress about not having been blogging or marketing. I know my business blogging system are working for me all the time.

It’s like having a little army of staff who go out and find the right people for you on a daily basis.

Once you start building those assets, you can do what I do – which is optimising those posts so they perform better. This blog post is no exception. It was written so long ago, but wasn’t properly optimised. So here I am updating it to help it rank higher in Google.

LinkedIn can be shut down tomorrow. Facebook can change its algorithm so we struggle to reach people without paying (ah, I think that’s already happened!). But your blog is yours.

Do you have a business blog? Why? Why not?

So, are you ready to go on this blogging journey with me?

FREE COURSE

Click the image below to learn how to make money from blogging in this 7-day mini course