Business blogging (although still very popular) used to be even more popular. Social media has had an impact though and, although social media is a powerful medium through which to share your original content, you still must first create original content that readers will be compelled to share. So, while social media is powerful, the first and foremost objective must be to create that original and engaging content.
The benefits of maintaining an engaging business blog are many and there is no doubt that “blog-less” businesses risk missing out on great lead generation opportunities and brand building. However, consistently delivering engaging content is a significant challenge that requires a combination of creativity, commitment, and excellent writing skills.
Some useful Stats
HubSpot, the inbound software marketing platform, tells us that businesses with blogs attract 55% more website visitors, get 97% more inbound links and have 434% more indexed web pages than “blog-less” businesses!
So, it stands to reason the more frequently a business publishes a blog post, the more likely it is to generate more visitor traffic and therefore produce more leads. Businesses publishing 20 or more blog posts each month can attract over 5 times more traffic and generate 4 times more leads than those that publish less than 4 per month – quality business blogging has real value. However, they would say that, inbound marketing is their business!!
Blogging keeps your website fresh and great for search engine optimisation (SEO). If you’re looking to capture a high rank using your targeted keywords by search engines, like Google, new and regular content is ideal and has the added benefit that it ages on your website, like a fine wine. Publishing search engine-friendly content will put your blog ahead of your competitors. But as mentioned above creating engaging and informative content consistently is a significant challenge.
However, do not despair, if the resources to create your content do not exist within your business, consider hiring an external, talented freelancers to do it for you, there are many around and they are inexpensive.
We all know that one of the key challenges facing business owners is time management. However, be clear, marketing your business through content creation, such as blogging, is critical to your success and never more so in this digital age. No matter what your business is, blogging consumes time and resources.
Top Blogging Tips
If you are considering using your own resources here are a few tips to help you manage your content creation strategy:
Utilise the staff (including yourself!) who are knowledgeable and able to write or speak about topics in your industry.
- Create a list of your clients FAQ’s to help generate relevant content and address these questions.Whenever possible, use whatever internal expertise you have, either knowledge-base or the abilities of you or your staff.
- Consider writing content in the style of interviews with industry contacts.
- Keep the title interesting and short – less than 50 characters
- Always have a call to action so people interested in what you have to say can follow you
If you already have content that’s a bit old then consider editing or re-vamping it, or slicing and dicing larger posts into a series of smaller pieces and release over time.
This may all sound daunting, but perhaps the hardest thing about it all is to make a start. Be sure to do a content schedule and you’ll be surprised at the interest you will generate and the leads you will convert, not only into customers, but also into advocates.