Content is king. Everyone is talking about it. But are the benefits of this marketing channel for business so obvious?
A company blog in our time is something mandatory, everyone manages it, and invests resources, but the results are most often controversial. There are cases when a blog attracts a minimum of traffic, maybe a few leads only. And this is the king? Rather, good company’s karma points.
On the other hand, look at companies that have turned their blogs into industry-leading media: HubSpot, for example. So, for some, the content still works.
Today we will figure out whether the business should start a blog in 2023, whether is it still relevant and what is needed for a blog to be not mediocre but successful.
Why does a Company Need a Blog?
A blog for business is an optional but very necessary thing. That’s why:
- Google “loves” when a site is updated frequently. All major search engines love fresh, up-to-date content, and blogging is one of the easiest and most inexpensive ways to provide it.
- Blogging boosts SEO. Not every keyword can be organically entered into the information about the product. Blogger texts are more “elastic”, they can be written in various styles: from colloquial to scientific and business, therefore it is easier to insert keywords.
Blog articles are, in general, crucial for website promotion: texts are updated for keywords related to the theme of the site. Further, anchors for certain products from the resource are embedded in the text. This encourages readers to follow links to specific sections/products/services on the site and boosts sales.
- A blog is the best option for link building. Internal and external links play an important role in increasing traffic. By clicking on them, a potential buyer “hangs” on the resource and receives useful information that motivates them to buy a product or order a service.
- Content reinforces the status of an industry expert. Buyers, even those who are ready to order goods, have a lot of questions, that the site manager can answer. However, not everyone is ready to call the company directly. And it is the articles in the business blog talking about the product, production, manufacturer, and purchase conditions that remove objections. Take a look at the Moz blog: relying just on the articles and blog posts you can definitely say, that the Moz team is an expert in SEO.
- Quality publications create strong relationships with users. It is human nature to trust companies that are either recommended by friends or pretend to “be of the same kidney.” In a blog, a businessman speaks the language of the audience. Thus, subconsciously, the site visitor begins to consider the company folksy and trusts it more.
Well, the listed advantages of a blog can unequivocally answer the question of whether it is worth starting a blog in 2022. Definitely yes. A blog is an inexpensive and sometimes very effective tool for promoting a company. Moreover, according to Demand Metric, content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many leads.
But it only works if it is done as efficiently as possible. And how to do this, we will tell below.
How to Blog Effectively: 6 tips
1. Study the target audience and consult with experts
As a rule, the business owner is sure that all website visitors are at least experts. That is, they know almost everything about the product. Otherwise, why, for example, look for repair service or web design development on the site? And here they are very wrong.
The buyer comes to the site to find out the “unknown”. And this is not a range of services or technical specifications. It can be news, new developments of the company, stories about how the product helped customers, extra service, or just interesting facts that evoke emotions.
It seems that it is difficult to study the needs because it is impossible to talk with every visitor.
In fact, for drawing up a content plan for a blog, a few steps are enough:
- check the main requests in the field of goods/services;
- communicate with site managers (they are aware of frequently asked questions);
- poll on social media/forums with similar topics.
2. Never ever hype on hot topics
Don’t falsely prove that your new development, for example, a cereal bar, miraculously helps in the prevention of coronavirus. Or don’t promise mountains of gold, where they definitely won’t be.
Also, don’t expose competitors in a negative way in order to blanch over yourself. Remember that competitors can strike back. And even sue the owner of the resource in court.
The right decision is to give the reader proven material and not rewrite popular articles. This is how you can gain many likes on your posts, but the preparation will require experts.
3. Pay attention to the visual part
What should a perfect blog post look like? Exactly as you imagine, remembering the phrase “judge a book by its cover.” After all, even here a lot depends on the cover. Your entire blog should look high-quality and stylish. Just as the one from Semrush does.
Add infographics, GIFs, funny photos, and videos. Of course, the visuals can be taken from stocks, but then they will have a bad effect on SEO. Don’t skimp on creating a unique visual by hiring designers, photographers, or video editors, or use ready-made solutions like Canva or dynamic visual creation tools.
Regarding the last stuff: remember that social media as well as many blogging hostings, although they write about the support of many formats, love MP4 video format – it can be easily loaded and opened on almost all devices. Therefore, use Movavi Video Converter to change the video format and make it more accessible.
4. Consider your link strategy
For sure, you can wait until the most authoritative resources begin to link to your publication. Or you can take the first step toward them:
- Find relevant thematic articles and contact the authors: ask them to add your post to the list.
- Track mentions of brands associated with you, and invite publishers to talk about you.
- Go guest posting.
5. Show business backstage
Brand awareness is an extremely important element of marketing. Publishing stories about the “inner workings” of your business will allow showing the audience the personal side of the organization.
With the help of stories about your brand, you will be able to attract potential customers in a way that external marketing mechanisms and methods couldn’t.
Blogging will give other people a clear idea of the corporate standards, business nature, vision, and personality of your company.
6. Create a mailing list
Email marketing is rarely mentioned. However, it remains a promising source of quality traffic and blog promotion in general. Be sure to add a form to the site for a convenient subscription to your newsletter. At the same time, make it clear what the user will receive in exchange for contact information.
A lead magnet will also help you collect addresses: here we mean valuable material that users can download only after subscribing.
Final thoughts
Well, as you see, the blog is important, and investments in it are not superfluous. In 90% of cases, these are investments for the future and will not be repaid in 1-2 weeks. But if a businessman is patient, in a few months, the number of readers and traffic will increase, and according to statistics, every 10th visitor will turn into a buyer. This is the right way for business growth.
Hopefully, now you have arguments with which you can explain the importance of blogging in 2022. And the owners of online businesses, after reading the article, will rethink their strategy and find the opportunity to promote the product and develop the company through blogging.
