Blogging is fun, but not every business owner is ready to launch a blog right away. Those who have never run blogs think it’s too complicated and is frightened of failure.
But look at the statistics: in 2013, HubSpot published a report on inbound marketing. Seventy-nine percent of the surveyed companies with business blogs reported a positive ROI (return on investment) thanks to inbound marketing. Starting a business blog has distinct advantages. Check them out:
You tell the reader about yourself and your business
One of the most obvious functions of the blog is to tell your customers who you are and what business you’re running. Here, you post updates, write about things that are related to your business and can be interesting for your readers. Thanks to the details about what exactly you offer, readers get a clearer understanding of your product or service, and they are more prone to buy it.
You attract more people to your business and generate new leads
Ask yourself, “How can new people learn about my business?” Somebody can recommend your product or service, they can come across it when surfing the net, or they can look for a specific kind of product or service and find it in search results. Of course, you can pay for placing advertisements on numerous websites and moving your blog to the top of the search results. But there’s a way to do it for free.
Along with your blog, create social media accounts where you’ll be able to promote your business blog and write about upcoming posts. To use social media is to get a chance to attract a larger audience, which can generate leads.
One more thing that boosts your blog is search engine optimization. It means that you have to insert search queries (basically, these are keywords that Internet users type into a search line) into your blog articles so that Google, Bing, Yahoo and others can easily notice them and make sure readers find them.
You hire fewer people to work on your blog
Blog platforms have classy templates that allow users to create cool blogs for personal and business use, even when you have no design skills. It comes rather handy when you have a startup business and want to save money on hiring web designers and SEO specialists, which is often out of the price range of new businesses.
In fact, blogging isn’t difficult. You just need to take some time to get accustomed to the blog platform (e.g. WordPress or Blogger), learn what functions you can use, pick up hot topics and start writing.
You stay creative
Since you prepare a content plan and research a lot, you can see what’s trending and think of new ideas for your content. Your blog is your space where you write anything relevant to your business. There are different types of content (news, guides, infographics, podcasts, interviews and so on), so you’ll want to find the best type to show off your creative skills.
Organizing you content with these mind map templates can help you, as well.
You see your clients’ needs
Blog statistics are amazing metrics that show what topics on your blog were a great success, what issues provoked discussions and arguments in comments, and what type of content has more views.
And besides sparking interest in clients, you also establish your own identity and discover who you are and what prospects your business has.
Warning!
It’s a common tendency for celebrities to start their blogs. Through blogs, they share their experiences and communicate with fans. But that’s where the problem is: Celebrities must constantly take care of what they say, or else their blunders may spoil their career. As a rule, PR managers create a public image for celebrities and warn about what they mustn’t do or say in public. However, famous people can often get themselves into a complete mess.
You, as a business owner, are in some sense in the public eye, too. You’ve made a product or service, and you present it to the audience. In fact, now you’re the face of your business.
First of all, make sure you write original content. There’s nothing easier than checking your blog articles with a plagiarism detection tool. It compares your work to materials available on the Internet and gives the originality percentage.
Second, you should work out your unique writing tone, so you can sound both professional and friendly. If you still don’t have your own writing style, don’t get upset – soon you’ll master your skills. Just practice more – blog as much as possible.
And the third thing to bear in mind: Catch up with your audience in a proper way. It means that people differ, and sometimes you will have to deal with rude readers or commenters. Stay polite, choose your words carefully, and always be ready to help your readers.
About the author
Young perfectionist addicted to writing as well as teaching. She graduated from Lewis University, currently working as a freelance writer. Her hobby is content and writing analysis.
