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As our society’s technology changes and evolves, so do the demands of customers and businesses.
A prime example of this ever-changing nature of commerce is the increasing use and influence of blogging over the years.
According to DemandMetric, 90% of businesses make use of blogging and other content marketing strategies to promote themselves.
But why? What is it that makes blogging so powerful that a vast majority of businesses use it? Why is blogging important? What even classifies as blogging, to begin with? These and other questions are what we are going to tackle in this article — so strap in!
A quick search on Google and you’ll find something like this definition of blogging, from YourDictionary: “the process of writing a blog, an online journal in which you share your thoughts about a particular subject with readers.”
And that is a very accurate description of what blogging is at its core: an online space where content such as thoughts, opinions, and ideas are shared with a broader audience.
But how does this apply to a business?
Well, just like you, your business has an identity. When clients and consumers look at your business, they gather whatever information they can and use it to create a narrative around your business. This narrative includes your company’s motives and values. Blogs give your business the opportunity to shape that narrative in the way you choose. It allows you to tell your audience what you are all about rather than leave them to attempt to piece it together themselves and potentially even misidentify your purpose or goals.
A company blog with clear values can attract customers that share similar views, thus building a solid community around your enterprise.
Attracting customers with views similar to your company’s is just one of the many benefits of blogging.
Other benefits include:
People tend to trust companies they know more about than companies of which they know very little. Of course, this is not a green light to write absolutely anything. Be sure to publish content that your audience will find valuable. Focus on being informative and encouraging discourse. If your customer leaves your website feeling more knowledgeable, they’ll believe you know what you are doing.
The first thing most people do when they identify the need for a product or service is search for it online, rarely venturing beyond the first page of results.
But how do the links and websites that appear first in search results get there? Is it a matter of luck or being the newest? No, it is the result of search engine optimization (SEO for short).
Search engine optimization plays with the algorithms of search engines, like Google or Bing, to put a website at the top of the search results. The higher your company blog’s ranking, the more visible your business will be, and the more potential clients you will attract.
SEO is a powerful tool to have in your marketing kit! We have a whole other blog dedicated to it! THE ULTIMATE SMALL BUSINESS GUIDE FOR SEO
Promoting your business has never been easy, especially in a market as viciously competitive as the one we have today, and this is exactly why having a blog is such a good idea.
Although we have focused on the blog as a text-based platform, it is a place you can represent your brand across all media forms; from pictures to podcasts, articles, and videos.
Your blog serves as the platform from which you can promote your business through any and all mediums you find fitting.
As we have already pointed out, exposing the ideas and values behind your company is a great way to attract like-minded people.
When you reach out to these people, they’ll begin coming back for more content and interacting with each other, making you the conduit of their bond. Therefore, blogging is a great way to get more than just customers or even loyal customers for your business, but actually fans of your work.
The more people you attract through your blog, the more you will see it quoted and used as a source in other’s content. This does wonders in adding value to your brand as an authority of the field where it operates, no matter what that may be.
In turn, becoming an authority in your field is a wonderful way to get not just more clients but better ones as people and companies with more capital resources will tend to seek service providers that stand out.
If the benefits of blogging were enough to convince you to try your hand at it, but you’re still hesitant about where to start, no worries! Here is a quick crash course.
In order to speak and truly be heard, you should say something that will add value to a conversation. Likewise, you should pick a subject for your blog post based on what people want to read. This may be a bit obvious at first, but many blogs die because they don’t put enough consideration into their audience. the typing is writing about something only he, or a very small group, are interested in. It’s also a good idea to avoid writing something just because you see others doing it; in fact, it would be best to do the exact opposite and offer something the competition is not.
Now, we talked a bit about SEO and all the wonderful things that it can do for a blog, but what does that mean when you get to apply it. It essentially boils down to using specific keywords that are going to be picked up more easily by algorithms, avoiding long sentences, and making use of things like backlinks to increase your site’s traffic. A good Search Engine Optimized blog post is easy to find, easy to read, and can quickly deliver on its premise.
Language is everything. When writing or directing others’ writing for your blog, it is always a good idea to use a consistent tone throughout all of your blogs that match your business identity. This will reinforce your brand and add personality to your blog as people will be attracted to your specific style, even when your topic may not be exactly original.
When it comes to the types of content you can display on your blog, the sky is truly the limit as its support for many types of media can be used for some unique combinations.
We will run through some examples below, but we seriously encourage you to think outside of the box when planning your content to differentiate yourself from the competition.
Now, that said, even human imagination can’t create something from nothing, so here are a few examples of types of content you can make use of.
A listicle is a series of correlated subjects that have been organized into a list. While they may have a funny name, listicles are the bread and butter of many blogs.
They are excellent for dividing your subject into bite-sized chunks and can make reading much more dynamic, practical, and even fun.
Many listicle examples are found, but the most common ones are reviews, guides, tips, and similar articles that bunch up many topics.
As we’ve mentioned before, blogging has the ability to increase your authority in your field drastically. This is especially true if you include valuable information such as a tutorial in your blog. We recommend pairing a written tutorial with a series of illustrative pictures, or, if you have the means, a video demonstrating each step.
As explained in the introduction to this article, the industry is always changing and evolving, to the point where customers can barely keep up!
If the ever-changing market is going to affect how your business and other companies operate, it’s a good idea to keep your customers up-to-date with a newsletter!
You can also take this a step further by pairing a podcast with your newsletter and allowing your consumers to use whichever media type they prefer.
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