I’m often asked whether blogging is really a necessary part of running a business. This question is most often asked by small business owners who simply don’t have the time or skills to regularly create high-quality content. And even if they did? They wouldn’t have a clue what to write about.
As a business owner who has built a successful business in large part thanks to blogging and content publication, I’ve seen firsthand the difference it can make in terms of search visibility, leads, and sales. I’m a huge advocate of investing heavily in a content publication strategy, and that strategy begins with the company blog.
Still on the fence about blogging for your business? This article will consider 10 of the top benefits of blogging on your website. But before we dig in, I wanted to address an important question at the outset:
Does my blog have to be hosted on my business website?
In short, yes. As you’ll see as we cover the top benefits below, hosting your blog on your business site is important, as hosting it elsewhere eliminates many of the benefits of blogging. Some businesses prefer, either because of cost or for simplicity’s sake, to use a free blogging platform like WordPress.com or Weebly.com. This often results in blog domains such as [companyname].wordpress.com. While hosting a blog independent of your business site is better than not having one at all, you’ll see that many of the benefits below can only be achieved if your blog is hosted on your primary domain (i.e., www.yoursite.com/blog).
Now, without further ado, the top 10 benefits of blogging on your website!
1. Increases search engine traffic
In terms of search engine rankings, I like to think of blogging as fishing. The more hooks you have in the water, the more likely you are to catch a fish. In the same way, as you add more content to your site, more pages from your domain become indexed in search engines. This improves organic search visibility and increases website traffic.
Every new page you publish is like dropping another hook in the water. With more opportunities for your target market to find your bait, the more bites you’ll get. The more blog posts you have, the more chances you have to rank for various keywords.
2. Humanizes your brand
Carefully crafted website content (e.g., a homepage or about page) can’t hold a candle to a blog post when it comes to showing the personal side of your business. Blogging gives your business a way to touch on issues and concerns of interest to your prospects, while also sharing what you and your employees are passionate about. Your blog posts give you a unique opportunity to share your voice and personality, building up trust and increasing your brand’s likeability quotient.
3. Supports your social media initiatives
It’s difficult to maintain an active social media presence without access to unique, high-quality content. Sharing other people’s content on social media is great, but at some point you want to be directing those leads to your own site. As you share your blog posts on social media, you increase traffic to your business website – a feat that would be much more difficult without highly-relevant, topical information such as that found in blog posts.
In addition, blog posts provide content for email newsletters. If you’ve got an email newsletter, you’ve probably wondered what content should go in it. A simple top-10 list that highlights your best blog content over the last 2-4 weeks is valuable content that’s likely to be appreciated by your readers.
4. Builds authority in your industry
A blog is one of the best ways to establish yourself or your brand as an expert in your field, as it gives you a platform for sharing important industry-related information and insights. As you build up authority in your niche, this breeds trust and familiarity, keeping you top-of-mind when your prospects are ready to buy, and increasing conversion rates, which brings us to our next benefit…
To read the rest of this article go to Forbes.com