The Benefits of Blogging for Business
At Yellow Cherry, we always recommend that our clients consider a blog section when developing a new website, or refreshing an old one.
Even if you’re in an industry that isn’t traditionally associated to blogging, your business can reap the rewards that come with updating your site regularly with stories, advice or news.
The idea of starting a blog can create a feeling of panic in website editors and business owners. Maybe the concept of ‘creative writing’ conjures up negative memories of high school English, or worries that your lack of grammar knowledge may catch you out.
But believe us, blog writing doesn’t need to be chapter and verse. Your first blog doesn’t have to be perfect – the best blogs are simple, authentic to the brand and offer something new to the reader.
In this week’s meta-blog, we touch on just a few of benefits, and discuss the key things to consider for content creation.
Why Blog?
Get creative and update your blog regularly to enjoy the following a few key advantages:
1) Grow online traffic
As touched on in our recent SEO refresher blog, search engines ‘crawl’ websites looking for information. This information is indexed and ready to be pulled up in the form of search results.
When you keep website content fresh and relevant, this is rated highly by search engines like Google. Search Engines want to showcase the best answers to the publics questions so keeping your site fresh with up-to-date and industry-specific content will ensure they perform better. As a result, your website has the potential to rank higher, increase visibility, reach further potential audiences with can improve sales or enquiries.
2) Nurture customers
Your blog page is the ideal place to build trust with new and long-term customers alike. By showcasing your tone of voice throughout your posts, and by sharing relevant news, you may find that customers actively seek out your page on a regular basis because they know there will be relevant content for them.
To encourage interaction further, you can activate a comment section. This allows your website visitors to leave comments in response to your blog posts. By providing answers and engaging with your clientele, you have the opportunity to build up rapport and develop your relationship further.
3) Stand out from the crowd
By getting creative and writing regular blogs that your customers find interesting, you will soon find your feet within your audience as an authoritative figure in your industry. Blogs are the perfect space to paint yourself as someone who really knows what they are talking about.
Additionally, the benefit of writing a blog isn’t exclusive to your site. You can keep your marketing channels fresh by repurposing and sharing your blogs across your social platforms. Having up-to-date and unique content across your socials can boost your reputation and ensure you stand out against your competitors.
4) Advertise
Within your blog page, there’s a limitless opportunity to highlight and advertise your products and services. Think of blogging like chatting on the phone to a customer, you’ve got their attention so now you can explain why, or how, they may benefit from your services.
What makes a blog?
So, now you know there are benefits to a blog, but you’re still unsure whether you have the right content or whether you have enough time to post ‘often enough’.
When it comes to blog topics, no matter your industry, there is endless potential. From personal and business news such as upcoming projects, ‘meet the team’ FAQs, introducing a new staff member or even highlighting partnerships with a particularly exciting supplier… the blogging world is your oyster!
We recommend posting a new blog at least once a month. The ideal blog length is up for debate, but we tend to recommend at least 1,000 words, 500 words minimum. Blog posts that come in at around 2-2,500 words have a better chance of being flagged by the search engines. For lengthier posts like this, we would suggest providing information in short, easy to navigate chunks of texts for the user. There are plenty of formatting tools to assist with this such as numbered lists, bullet points, or images to spilt up the text.
For a chat about digital marketing, contact the Yellow Cherries today.