There are numerous benefits to blog as a company. It’s an essential internet marketing tactic. If managed right, blogging will drive website traffic, expose your thoughts to prospects, and contribute to conversions. When companies hesitate implementing a corporate blog program, they can be left behind the eight-ball when prospects determine which firms they wish to do business with.
So I decided to do a blog post on blogs! Here are the 10 key reasons you need a blog, and why you need it updated frequently with quality content.
- A blog gives search engines another keyword-optimized page to crawl on your site, and with indexed title tags, can bring more website traffic to you based on your keywords selected.
- Blog readers and search engines like content fresh on your website, which means that you need to constantly update the content on your website. Blogs are an ideal medium for fresh content. Posting frequently gives readers new content from your firm and gives search engines the message that you are an active site that engages readers.
- One of the tactics of SEO are internal link building Blog posts gives you an opportunity to link to other pages within your site, which increases the SEO benefit of your whole website. If you need to rank on long-tail keywords, this kind of deep link anchor text to specific pages that promote those long-tail terms is very beneficial for your site ranking.
- As a back link strategy for SEO, blogs can attract links from other sites. Blogs are where people tend to engage with your company’s content. Prospects and influencers may comment on your blog posts and link to them from their own blogs. When other reputable websites or blogs cite your blog, search engines can reward your site in search rankings.
- When you have an RSS feed, it allows prospects to stay up to speed on your thought leadership. And if you reference other older posts in your post, prospects can review more of your content as they continue to build a picture of how your company reacts to industry news and issues.
- A corporate blog gives your firm personality. When you have multiple writers, each one can showcase their own spin on industry issues and show their individual expertise. By overcoming “corporate speak” within usual website copy, a blog lets prospects know that your firm has real people with real opinions and views. And that’s a selling point.
- Prospects typically buy from companies they trust. When you demonstrate expertise in a blog, that content builds credibility and trust. Publishing useful content can also tell prospects that you are more knowledgeable than your competitors, especially when competition is not blogging. Remember: helpful content builds trust- trust builds leads- leads become sales
- Direct lead capture opportunities. Not in the blog itself, but surrounding the blog you can provide ample opportunities for lead capture. You can promote content or newsletters in your sidebars (like I do if you’re reading this on my site), or you can provide a lead generation offer at the bottom of your blog as a sign off (Example- “want to learn more? Download our white paper….)
- If you wish to do lead nurturing successfully, you need to provide quality content as part of your content map. Blogs conveniently can be implemented in a marketing automation system as a key component of your nurturing process. If prospects engage in your content, their lead score increases which means prospects are closer to being sales opportunities.
- Social media is more effective when you consistently publish content. If you’re tweeting and posting, and you’re sharing other people’s content but not your own, you are missing a golden opportunity to promote your own content within these channels, and you miss out on quality site traffic. Content is the fuel for optimal social media effectiveness.
In summary, a blog is a great opportunity to connect with your prospects in an easy accessible manner. Blogs allow you to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of a certain topic or industry business challenge. You’ll need to promote the blog via newsletters, email signatures, LinkedIn, and other distribution channels.
Is your company blogging regularly? Why not? Want increased search visibility? Want better social media results? Want leads? Think about it. We can help you get started.
Here’s a link to our blogging services.
