The term ‘blog’ was only coined in the late 1990’s but since then the pool has grown from just a handful of blogs to over 160 million across the world. Over two million blog posts are published each day. Surely that many people can’t be wrong.
Countless blogs have the sole goal of driving traffic to other parts of a website, or are used as a dangling carrot to entice visitors from other realms of the world wide web like social media and partner websites. Your blog gives you the opportunity to widen your net and reach far more potential customers if your content is interesting and relevant. A successful blog could see more people viewing your products or services on your website and following a call to action like making contact.
Guest blogging on other websites which ultimately link back to your own can also play a key role in increasing your visitor numbers.
Nobody likes a bragger, but when you’re able to show off your company culture or share stories about your achievements it’s perceived as news, not boasting. Your blog allows you the perfect platform to humanize your brand so that it is relatable to others.
If you’re writing useful content from an expert perspective, you’ll establish yourself as an authoritative voice in your industry. This could well lead to valuable partnership opportunities and public speaking engagements which further cement your brand in your line of business.
The more you’re able to engage with your key audience, the more opportunity you have to convert them into qualified leads and eventually, loyal customers.
A blog platform allows you to share information they find interesting (there’s the bait), ask questions and encourage comments (there’s the engagement) and grow your database (there’s the lead).
This might seem obvious to some, but many people are often surprised to learn that the more you blog, the more content is associated with your site and the more search engines reward you with improved search rankings. Naturally, with any reward system there are guidelines and best practices to follow and any business would do well to be familiar with them.
Often your blog is the only content changing on your websites for months at a time. By publishing regular blog posts you keep your site content from stagnating; particularly if you have your latest post snippets automatically published on your home page.
Lastly (and, for some, most vitally), your blog can be a place to host information you don’t have a place for anywhere else on your site. It’s a great place to publish those information misfits that don’t fit into the conventional menu mould!