If your small business doesn’t have a blog, that’s okay.
Still, it’s hard to imagine how a small business owner could prioritize other social media efforts over blogging when the benefits of a quality blog are so dramatic.
Here are four great reasons to consider starting up a blog.
Blogs Allow You to Speak With Your Customers
Jeremiah Owyang once said: “The corporate website is an unbelievable collection of hyperbole, artificial branding, and pro-corporate content.” Too often company sites become static spaces full of hyperbolic corporate praise that nobody believes. When customers visit your site, they’re looking for down-to-earth answers, not to hear your company extol itself. They want to be spoken with, not spoken at. Blogs give your company a chance to prove it’s not some impersonal corporate monster serving itself, but a group of people serving its customers on a believable, real, human level. It makes the process of “business” much more personal, shows your company’s personality, and gives you a one-on-one connection with your customers.
Blogs Help You Show What You Know
Having a quality blog will help prove your company’s expertise. When you give out knowledge to your readers, you’re making a mark – whether in your whole field or just in your hometown – and building a trusting customer base. You’re throwing away the hyperbolic praise and showing rather than telling that you know your stuff. Sharing expertise and building trust can also draw the press’s attention in your direction. This leads to greatly increased blog traffic and valuable external links that will aid your SEO (search engine optimization) efforts.
Blogs Are Powerful Additions to Your SEO Arsenal
When a blog is full of consistently published quality articles, search engines adore it. Numerous studies have been done to prove the benefits of blogging. The two reproduced below are from Hubspot – a company whose platform hosts the online presence of thousands of small businesses.
The statistics go to show that small businesses with active blogs receive, on average, about 55% more visitors, seven times more traffic from organic searches, and up to 97% more links. And, if you want excellent search engine presence, think about creating a dynamic blog right on your company website instead of on the much-used Blogger or WordPress. Sometimes going a little against the grain is very beneficial.
You Are the Owner of Your Blog
Facebook and Twitter are great social media outlets for companies who want to be creative and reach their customers on a person-to-person level. However, just like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter may one day disappear – and all your outreach efforts with them. Owning a blog is an entirely different ballgame. It is yours. You own it, and because of that it can’t be taken away from you. The content you write for it will be there forever, and your great articles will keep on bringing in traffic for years to come. Having a blog means that you own your digital assets, and that is one of the smartest things a modern-day business owner can do.
Finale
Again, it’s okay if you don’t have a blog. Maybe it’s just not plausible right now…but you should try to make it plausible as soon as possible.
Old-fashioned, static websites are dying, and, in order to stay a valuable player in the game, you must create vital, dynamic content. Blogging is the best way to make this happen.
(Charts reproduced via Hubspot.com)
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