As a small business owner, you may be intimidated or uncomfortable with the thought of blogging for your business, or maybe you just aren’t sure how to start. Blogging does not have to be a daunting task, but can have a tremendous impact for a small business if done regularly. According to BlogHer, 81% of U.S. online consumers trust information and advice from blogs, and 61% of those consumers have made a purchase based on a recommendation from a blog.
What impact does blogging have on your business?
- People research about your products or services long before they are ready to speak with you
- People read into conversations forming around products and services to help shape their beliefs
- People are influenced by the experiences (good & bad) that other people have with products and services
Blogging will help you develop deeper, more meaningful relationships with prospects and customers in a community-like atmosphere, and lets you to share expertise in your industry in a more laid-back, conversational fashion. Don’t underestimate the power of a blog – blogging can help a business’s search engine optimization (SEO) tremendously, and can drive more traffic than other methods.
What effect does a blog have on SEO?
To put this in perspective, let’s say there is a local wine shop. The wine shop owner has a website where prospects and customers can venture on to purchase their favorite wines. However, the wine shop owner also has a blog that is updated weekly with interesting articles related to wine such as, “The Top 5 Wine & Cheese Pairings” or “Best Wines for Beginners.” The wine shop is pushing out new, interesting content online related to wine that people are actively searching for. The wine shop has now attracted a following of readers that share their favorite blog posts on their social media outlets, and Google responds very well to this! The more times the blog post is shared, the higher the content moves in the search rankings. Now, not only has the wine shop has established expertise in their industry, built discussion and readership regarding wine, but is also driving regular traffic to their blog (which links to their website).
Blog Traffic = Website Traffic = More Captured Leads = More Sales
People value good content and relationships over traditional advertisements and website content now more than ever. Like the wine shop owner – you are the expert in your industry and you have valuable knowledge at your fingertips that people want to know. If you can make a habit to update your business blog with content you either create or leverage from another non-competitor, you can make substantial impact in your industry, and convert more leads into loyal customers over time.
So you want to start a blog?