5 Empowering Benefits of Blogging for your Small Business
Time to get friendly with your blog (and to stop thinking of it as a dirty 4-letter word) - consistent blogging is one of the easiest marketing tools to generate brand awareness, talk to your target audience, and authentically communicate what you’re all about.
For business owners who have come of age alongside the internet (hello, fellow millennials!), the concept of a blog can feel a little cringe-y, not to mention out-of-date. Cue post-2001 stereotypes a la Amy Adams from Julie & Julia: a digital diary, self-absorbed soapbox, or at best, a cry into the saturated void of the Internet. (But we can agree, Julie was the worst. This is uncontroversial.)
What if I told you blogging - especially for your small business - could be more joie de vivre, Julia Child/Meryl Streep? #whatwouldmeryldo
For small businesses, a blog may be the core pillar of inbound marketing that you are sleeping on.
Is blogging worth it? A big yes. Is it meta for my first business blog post to be about why you should business blog? Definitely. I’m here for it, and hope you are too.
Wait... what is a blog?
Blogging is the creation of short-form pieces of content which are posted online. It aims to generate more online visibility - that is, to create content that will help people find and connect with you on the internet. By producing content that people want and are searching for, blogging helps attract a relevant audience to your website via search engines and/or social media.
For a small business, your blog is an opportunity to post about topics related to your business subject matter. For example, as a freelance writer, my blog posts will primarily focus on writing-related and small business topics that would interest my ideal clients.
Business blogging vs. personal blogging
The version of blogging that many of us may be familiar with is a personal blog - either a blog created as a hobby, or a blog as the primary way that someone generates income (think of an influencer, perhaps, or a recipe blog).
A business blog, on the other hand, is a marketing method aimed at supporting business growth. It is a low-cost, evergreen, and connection-filled opportunity to make sure your website is found by your ideal clients. Did you know that you have a 434% chance of ranking higher on Google if you have a blog on your website? This is a no-brainer!
How can a blog be all this? Let’s dive into the top 5 ways that blogging could support your small business.
1. Search engine optimization
Yeah, I said it - the dreaded search engine optimization or SEO. As much as this three-letter acronym haunts those of us running our businesses online, there is no denying its importance: search engines live for fresh and relevant content. And the reality is, we are reliant on search engines to attract new people to our websites.
We know that a carefully crafted website is a major part of a healthy online marketing strategy (a website that sells your business for you? Love to see it.) But how do you regularly update your website to keep it fresh and relevant? There are only so many times you can update your About Me section, after all.
Each time you create a blog post (ideally 4 posts per month, but no less than 2 per month), you are adding one more page to your website. This cues Google that your website is active, and that you have fresh content that they should review and index. Another website page = another opportunity for you to show up on Google = another opportunity to drive traffic to your website.
And don’t forget about social media - each new blog post is a piece of content that can be shared on social networks to further expose your business to new and potential clients. The more your blog post is linked and checked out, the prettier it looks in the eyes of Google, which further bumps up your website’s SEO.
Benefit #1: by increasing online visibility through SEO, blogs drive new traffic to your website.
2. Add long-term value, not ads
The main (legal) alternative to organic SEO-driven website traffic? Placing paid advertisements for your business. You know - the search results that say AD next to them, or the social media posts that say Sponsored.
However, not only is paying for ads expensive, but the second you stop paying to run them, the traffic to your website stops, too.
Enter blogs, which (if SEO-optimized) generate traffic continuously. It may not be as speedy as a paid ad, but a blog is written only once with no need for continuous investment, plus it can continue to generate momentum over time.
Think of it as energy - paying for an ad is a classic one-off Duracel battery: toss it in and it works quickly, but once the battery is done, it’s useless. A blog, on the other hand, would be a solar panel: it takes longer to install and get going but will work continuously for you over a much longer period.
In fact, according to HubSpot, about 70% of the traffic to their blog each month comes from old posts, sometimes from blog posts from years ago. Called “compounding blog posts,” - and 1 in 10 blog posts are compounding - this means that a blog post made today can snowball into hundreds of views (and, therefore, leads) in the future. And this is all without any additional investment besides the initial investment of writing the blog post itself.
Benefit #2: blogs are the one-time investment that keeps on giving.
3. Demonstrate authority
In a world full of people offering similar products or services, blogs allow you to stand out from the crowd by establishing industry know-how and building trust - all before having a single sales call.
Blogs provide valuable content and demonstrate that you have expert knowledge in your industry. This is because the best business blogs provide answers to common questions asked by their target clients.
What does consistently providing helpful content do? It establishes you as an authority in your audience’s eyes - not only can you become someone's “go-to” for information in your field, it means that they will already trust and respect you, even before they need your services. This is especially huge from a sales perspective - think fewer persuasive sales pitches and more educated and willing customers who already know what you have to offer.
Bonus: you now have a trusty archive of well-researched answers to common questions at your fingertips, allowing you to reply to customers quickly and with confidence. Another bonus: you demonstrate to YOURSELF that you have authority in your field by feeling prepared and informed - take that, imposter syndrome!
Benefit #3: blogs demonstrate to potential customers that you are knowledgeable and passionate about your industry.
4. The power of your (and your brand’s) voice
Let’s not forget one of the biggest perks of running a small business: direct interaction with your clients. Your business may be operating (partially or wholly) online, but that doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice personal connection. Writing a blog is a chance to let you and your brand shine through direct communication and relationship-building.
Compared to larger businesses or corporations, small businesses are often much closer to their client base - think one-on-one services, community involvement, or being reliant on customer testimonials and referrals. This means that customer engagement should be a priority for your online marketing and branding.
A small business blog is a chance for you to connect with your existing (and future) customers conversationally, and to put your brand’s values and personality on display. Through your blog, you can speak to your client’s pain points, solve their problems, and relate to them in a relaxed and informative way.
By allowing your clients to see the personal side of your business, not only are you building brand awareness, you are giving them a sense of your corporate standards, business character, and core values. And (as in any relationship) authentic, consistent, and quality communication builds trust. And who doesn’t want to see more businesses out there who are trustworthy with a kick-ass personality to boot?
Benefit #4: blogs allow you to connect and build trust with your customers.
5. Play the longer, real game
For small businesses, there is a huge push towards posting and engagement on social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook. We all know there is a time and a place for social networking, but these mediums are fast-moving and filled with competition.
Social media can be an amazing way to meet people where they are (you may have even stumbled upon this post via social media!) But even the most well-crafted post can see potential clients scroll past rather than dive in deeper. Never forget: social media is designed and incentivized to keep people within their environment rather than exiting it (check out the 2020 docu-drama hybrid The Social Dilemma on Netflix - not perfect, but eye-opening nonetheless.)
Your website and your blog are YOUR environments - by creating posts that are evergreen, you can develop a curated and timeless repository of you and your brand where you call the shots. The tech and trends of social media may come and go, but your website and blog is something you build and maintain that will stay with you.
And remember, getting people off social media and to your website is crucial… why? More visitors means more people to convert to leads and sales. In fact, the average company with a business blog sees 55% more visitors to their website than those without a blog.
That’s why it’s the longer, real game: a blog is a chance to create your own space and platform that is owned and controlled by you… a space that is not at the whim of the current social media algorithm. If social media is window shopping, visiting your website is like entering and browsing your store: a chance to connect, add value, and maybe close a sale or two.
Benefit #5: blogging stops the endless scrolling and invites customers to connect with you on your website.
Summary
If you want to increase your online exposure, establish yourself as an expert in your industry, and connect to your ideal clients, be sure to take advantage of blogging as a marketing strategy for your small business.
Note: it is recommended that blog posts be 1,000-1,200 words or more. I admit, that’s a lot of writing, and it takes planning and time (fun fact: this blog post is 1,725 words long, took an hour to plan and research, 2.5 hours to write, 1 hour to edit and cite - plus extra time for image searching, publishing time, and sharing on social networks). Make sure you build time for blogging into your schedule and aim for at least 2 blog posts a month to help your rankings.
And if you don't have the time or resources to write blog content (or hey, maybe you just hate writing!), I offer unique, relevant and engaging blog writing services - let’s chat about how I can focus on your writing, so you can focus on your work.
