Why Keeping a Blog Can Benefit Your Business
There is no doubt that when it comes to running a business, having a website is one of the most important things you need to check off your list as soon as you get started. The truth is, a lot of shopping was already moving online anyway, but now, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is much more common for people to look for products and services from the comfort of their own home behind a computer screen. As such, having a website is no longer a luxury but an absolute necessity.
So, you have your site, now what? Unfortunately, due to the endless amount of content that the regular consumer has access to now, having a website as a means to generate business is no longer simply a case of “build it, and they will come.” No, you have to ensure you are taking active steps as a means to generate online traffic and convert that traffic into sales. How do you do this? Well, there are a variety of ways, buy ads, run email campaigns; however, one of the most effective means and easy to get started on right away is by writing a blog.
Related: How to make money blogging 2021
Here are some of the main benefits that having a blog can eventually have on your business.
Increase the Amount of Traffic that Visits Your Businesses Website
First and foremost, as has already been established, running a regular and consistent blog with interesting content will drive people to your site. This will lead to greater conversion, regardless of whether you are trying to promote your services to customers or other businesses.
The best way you can use blogging as a means to draw people to your site is by creating SEO-optimized content that uses keywords people will usually search for when looking for a business like yours. Consider what a prospective client will need to type into Google in order to come across your business and create posts surrounding that search term. This will make it, so your business turns up when they look for something.
Companies tend to see significant benefits when they run a regular blog compared to companies that don’t. This means that more people will wind up on your site, which could mean there is room for more bookings, sales, submissions, or generally just more engagement with your brand as a whole.
Related: 8 Ways to Find the Best Sites for Guest Blogging
Show and Tell What Your Business Can Do
A blog post is a great way to let customers know what it is that your business can do so they can be sure they want to follow up with you and potentially engage with your services. This can act as an ongoing portfolio of work or simply a means to provide information on complex subjects; this can certainly benefit when people search for your business for something more sensitive.
Take, for example, if you work in care. There are few people who look for care themselves, and the choice to do so is usually facilitated by the wishes of the family, meaning the family are large components in finding the right place. Of course, if they are looking for a care home or facility for a loved one, they won’t settle for anything less than top quality. With that in mind, by running a blog or having client testimonials in the form of blog posts, this care home will establish itself as a successful business and one that family members can trust. Take, for example, Brandywine Living’s Brandywine reflections who have a very easy-to-use website that comes writhe with information. Thanks to this, they immediately establish themselves as a top-quality care facility and one that people can trust.
With a blog accompanied by some photos or videos, you will easily be able to build up a portfolio of work that potential customers will be able to refer to. Of course, this does take time and effort, but it is well worth it in the long term as these posts continue to have value long after publication.
You can also post these on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, which means there will be other ways that you can potentially draw customers to your website.
Related: How to Get Social Media Likes for Quick Promotion
Build Your Network and Community
Though attracting new customers to your site is a huge benefit to blogging, it doesn’t just stop there. By blogging, you are openly engaging in a dialogue with your customers, allowing them to comment on posts and ask follow-up questions, all of which leads to a network and community within your business. If this is the case, people will be much more likely to return to your business for future queries.
One of the best examples of this is Waitrose’s blog. Here, Waitrose promotes recipes that have been sent in by their shoppers. It is a great way that they have managed to build a community while also promoting their own products in the process. By allowing their customers to actively contribute towards the site and give something for readers to look forward to, they ensure people are going to return to their website on a regular basis, which only allows for more chances to make sales.
Conclusion
If you are considering starting a business, then one of the first things you should do is create a website. You can hire professional web designers to do this or use one of the free builders available that allow you to create a site yourself.
Of course, when you have your website up and running, the focus then turns towards how you will get people on it. One of the best ways to do this is by blogging. When you blog, you have the chance to create content that uses keywords which will lead to you ranking higher for those terms on search engines. You will also establish yourself as a voice of authority within your industry that people can trust and build up a community of followers. As such, blogging is an incredibly effective means of attracting new customers and ensuring client retention.
