Content marketing is a very powerful digital marketing tool that businesses of all sizes can leverage to drive not only significant brand awareness but leads and sales conversions as well. With up to 76% of companies in the B2B arena owning one, blogs have proven to be a very effective content marketing tool for business, as confirmed by up to 52% of professional digital marketers.
Business blogging is geared towards providing your brand and business not only with greater online visibility but also a means of interacting or engaging directly with targeted audiences online. As more and more businesses are gearing up towards a boost in their content marketing campaigns through their blogs, its high-time small business owners who have not yet initiated their own campaigns to start doing so.
If you are still very skeptical about the powers of business blogging, then the following reasons should convince you to start taking action – and start churning content for your business blogs.
Business blogging is an inbound marketing strategy that drives organic traffic without you having to spend tons of money on paid advertising or settling for black-hat strategies like buying and spamming email lists. With business blogging, you generate quality traffic from targeted audiences who may show greater interest in your brand, products or services.
Studies indicate that up to 80% of daily visits to business blogs are from new visitors. These studies also indicate that if business blogs post content on a regular and more frequent basis (ideally once a day), they generate up to 5 times more traffic from blogs that post only once a week or even less. If visitors like your blog, most would definitely share it which could make your content go viral.
Don’t you worry if you think your blog is just new or if you only have a few content posted? Just maintain and update your blog regularly and traffic to your site will grow. Studies show that a 53% increase in traffic occur after 51 posts and could shoot up to 3 times as much after reaching the 100-post level and 4.5 times more after 200 posts.
It’s a good thing if you can generate tons of traffic to your site, but it would really be a great thing if you can convert them all into leads through business blogging. The important thing here is to provide your targeted audiences with high quality content that includes a compelling call-to-action that will entice your readers to become valuable business leads. Note that not all traffic can and will convert into leads so it’s important that you generate more traffic through regular blog posts.
The simple act of blogging at least once or twice a month can already generate up to 70% more leads than competitors who don’t have a business blog at all according to a HubSpot study. Other studies placed these figures at even higher levels of 126%, particularly true for small businesses with blogs as compared to those who do not blog. Still, you can generate up to 4 times more leads if you post regularly on your business blogs.
A website optimized for search engines can draw in highly targeted traffic that could later convert into leads or even sales. Business blogging plays an important part in boosting your SEO campaign for the simple fact that search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo love high quality original content that people actually do it – and will reward your site by placing it high in the ranking pedestals.
Boost your main website’s SEO with a business blog for studies show that doing so will get your pages indexed by up to 434% and generate indexed links by up to 97% more. More pages and links indexed by search engines gives you better chances of ranking higher in search results.
Business blogging generates more site visitors and more traffic generated means more chances of generating leads. More leads means greater possibilities of acquiring new customers. That’s how you benefit from business blogging which, according to a HubSpot survey, has benefited up to 60% of businesses with a blog. Why is this so? This is due to the high trust rate 81% of these consumers place on the information, tips and advice they get from their favorite business blogs.
Unlike in the old days where only large companies with the budget to invest on traditional media channels like television, newspapers and the radio, small businesses have a voice in the marketing world, small businesses can now compete and keep up through business blogging. With your own blog for sharing information and other relevant topics related to your products and services, small businesses can now have a voice that can actually engage in two-way communications with targeted audiences.
Studies show that business blogs can actually influence the purchasing decisions of consumers, with up to 61% of consumers in the United States making purchases based on information they received through a blog post. This is a high trust rate considering that up to 57% of online adults in the United States do read blogs. Within this group lies the 18-34 year old demographic where up to 80% have indicated that blogs proved influential in guiding them through making purchasing decisions.
Posting on a daily basis may mean a lot of work for a business owner, especially if he has to oversee other aspects of his business. A great thing with business blogging however is that it need not be a one-man show as you can your own staff and other members of your organization pitch in with creating content for your blog.
Just take HubSpot as an example. The company allows every team member to produce content for them, collectively generating 3 to 5 new posts each day. This is the main reason why HubSpot was twice awarded with the #1 Best Place to Work recognition by the Boston Business Journal, prompting none other than Google investing $32 million in this company – all because of their team-powered business blog.
Companies can provide valuable relevant information that their targeted audiences need through their business blogs. This can include simple tips articles to detailed instruction manuals that may prove valuable for your audiences. By providing your customers and other targeted audiences with valuable knowledge, you are on a strong path towards establishing a strong niche authority for your brand and business.
Developing yourself and your business as an authority or expert in your niche can open new doors that will further increase awareness and visibility for your brand and business. Journalists and other business bloggers looking up to you as an authority in your niche will quote your content, syndicate your content, or even perform live interviews with you sitting on the resource person’s chair. Such actions will provide your business with free PR that others will not easily get – even if they paid just to get one.
Establishing a business blog may seem like hard work for many, particularly if your site is just relatively new and you and your staff are still in the process of generating content. But once you’ve established the framework for your blog and generated enough posts, you will soon experience favorable long term results from all your efforts. A great thing about business blogging is the fact that older posts continue to generate traffic even if you’re produced these months or even years before. Studies show that 70% of blog traffic comes from posts published older than the current month.
These reasons, as well as a ton of others not mentioned here, prove the effectiveness of business blogging as a valuable digital marketing tool. So if you’re planning on starting your own business blog or have apprehensions in doing so, just check out these top 10 reasons – and be persuaded in starting your business blog… now!