… Even If You Don’t Blog Often for Business
Companies can get significant benefits by maintaining (and updating) a business blog. For one, search engines love blog content. Creating content regularly helps your company be found more easily in Google, Bing and Yahoo’s search engines. More importantly, potential customers are also interested in good, relevant content. Once they discover it, blog content keeps them on your site longer and gives them the opportunity to get to know you on a deeper level, making them more likely to buy from you.
I will dig into these and other benefits in a minute. But first, let’s address the biggest complaint that I hear: “I don’t have time to blog”.
I could explain how you can create an editorial calendar to keep you on track, how you could carve out a dedicated time to write, how you could hire bloggers to write for you, or how you could accept guest posts to get more content on your site. These are all great ways to make blogging more methodical and to reduce your blogging workload. But, I’d like to take this “conversation” in a different direction, if that’s alright with you.
So what if you only have the time, energy or bandwidth to create a few blog posts over the next few months? Is it worth it? I say yes!
Benefits of Blogging for Business Periodically
Here are several benefits that you can get even if you just produce just a few well-written blog posts:
1) You can show your expertise to potential clients
Potential clients will often look at your blog before meeting you. Having key posts that shows your thought leadership is a great way to get a leg up on your competition.
2) Your blog helps to “Pre-qualify” your company in the client’s eyes
People want to know that you’re real, that you know what you’re talking about, and that you are serious about your business. Having an attractive website and some blog content is a great way to get “pre-qualified” by your potential customers. Often if you don’t have enough of a web presence, people won’t bother calling you to learn more.
3) Can help you get found on the search engines
If you do it right, your website and blog content can help you get found by your target clients via the search engines. If you blog, learn the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) basics or invest in a little SEO training so you can get the maximum benefit for your limited amount of content.
4) Your blog content can open you up to unexpected opportunities
Having a blog can bring amazing opportunities that just a basic website won’t provide. One of my earlier blog posts brought me two significant opportunities (out of the blue) that were about 10-20x more valuable than the typical project I was getting at that time.
5) Blog content gives you something to share on social media
If you’re interacting on social media, your blog content is a great excuse to get your name in front of potential clients or industry influencers. If your post is interesting, influencers may share it, expanding your reach.
6) Can give you a quick way to answer a question from your potential clients
Why answer each question individually? If you answer commonly asked questions on your blog, you can then send that to potential or current customers rather than typing a complete email for each one. Each time you get that question you just write a short email (possibly with a call to action) and attach a link to that post!
7) Gives you a platform to feature clients or partners
You can do a favor for a client or partner by featuring them on your blog. This can pay dividends in the future by getting you more referrals or by having your partner feature you on their site!
8) Is your resume for potential guest blogging opportunities
One of the more valuable things that you can do to attract visitors to your site is to guest post on other, larger industry blogs. Having well-written blog posts on your own blog will help you land posts on these other industry blogs.
Even Occasional Blogging For Business Has It’s Rewards
I hope you can see how this can benefit even the occasional blogger. If so, I recommend you address a few of the main questions that your prospective clients typically have or you can write about your perspective on important topics in your industry.
So, are you ready to get started with your blog?
Tom Treanor is the President of Right Mix Marketing, which provides Social Media consulting and training. He helps cut through the clutter, making online marketing easier to do and more effective for your business.
