How To Blog for Business: 4 Things You Need to Know

Blog: [blawg, blog]
Noun
1.   a website containing a writer’s or group of writers’ own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other websites.
2.   a single entry or post on such a website:
She regularly contributes a blog to the magazine’s website.
Origin: 1995-2000; shortening of weblog. (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/blog?s=t)

The importance of blogging has been the phrase on the lips of every marketing agency for the last decade. Blog is also the word that business owners hate. Starting a blog can seem like a daunting task. It takes time and skill to write good blogs, and in the results aren’t always immediately tangible. Maybe you’ve even asked “How do blogs work?” or “Why start a blog?” If you’re asking that question, then here are four good reasons that you need to sit down and start writing consistent blogs.

 1. Improve your Social Media Presence

Everyone loves your hashtagged pictures of folks in your office for #TBT or the fun graphic about how it’s #FinallyFriday, which is great since it shows how you humanize your company. While that kind of social media is great for drawing attention, it doesn’t tell people what you do. Regular blog installments give potential customers a look into your business, and tell them what you have to offer. Blogs promote your business by telling the world that you are a professional who knows the business. A good list of blogs is essential to filling out your monthly or quarterly social media campaign. What better way to keep your business at the top of people’s minds than being the always helpful source of information?

 2. Drive Traffic to your Site Today

People are looking for answers. Whether they turned to Google, or they saw a social media post that interested them, they want to know stuff. Potential customers aren’t just going to show up on your doorstep by accident. Blogging gives them a reason to look. Readers want to know about your industry, new products and reviews, and even about how you’ve succeeded. Pushing your blogs out to social media and publishing them to be crawled by web spiders puts you in the spotlight, and draws customers to your site. Give them interesting topics to click. Show leads that you have something to say. In addition to driving your blogs out on social media, you can also send them out via email listings and newsletter subscriptions.

 3. Create Traffic for Tomorrow and Beyond

Daily social media posts attract traffic day to day. If you don’t post something today, you cannot expect that you will get a visit today. Blogs change that. Proper keywords, backlinks, and SEO will keep people coming to your site. The more blogs you have, the more blogs you can backlink to, and the more traffic they will drive. Adding related blogs to the end of your posts will keep people on your site longer. You can also recycle blogs on a semi-regular basis if the information stays up to date. Always remember to review an old blog for changes before you push it out a second time.

 4. Blog Readers are Potential Leads

This is a pretty simple concept. If you write interesting content, and can entice readers to stay for a second blog, then you can convert them to a lead. All you need is a “Call to Action” (CTA). There are many kinds of CTA’s, but a simple form submission asking for a few details will start the ball rolling to move the reader to a lead. You can entice them to give you their information with “insider only” information such as white pages, infographics, or just more content. If you need an example, please feel free to refer to the bottom of this post!

Blogging is as fun as you make it. Some blogs may need to be more technical, but others can be more fun, and light-hearted. Knowing your content marketing personas and knowing what they want to know about is the key. Susie Homemaker is far less likely to be interested in the molecular composition of your product than a comparison of effectiveness. Eddie Engineer, however, will likely be very interested in the dynamics of how your product works. If you capture the interest of your buyers, the clicks will come. Build your blog library; the leads will come.