Last updated on April 3rd, 2019

So, you’re tired of everyone telling you to get a blog for your business? Or maybe you already have one but don’t know what to do with it? Or it could be that you’re not convinced about how vital is it for your online business?

We did talk about the top 3 reasons a business needs a blog, but in the 2nd part of this  Business Blogging 101 guide, we’re going in-depth and actually looking at 10 ways in which your business can actually grow via the humble blog:

1. Attract New Audiences

A business blog is a fantastic way of reaching out to new markets. By using content that is relevant to your niche and optimized for search engines, you increase your chances of being found by people searching for your product or services. Moreover, using strategies like guest posting, you introduce your business to new and interested audiences.

 2. Engagement and the Business Blog

 The business blog serves as the hub of your social media marketing efforts. It is where your engagement across social networks comes together and offers your followers a better chance to interact with your business and learn more about what YOU do and how you do it. You can use the blog to conduct a survey or poll, test out products and services or even, hire new employees. Yes, the engagement that a dynamic blog offers is immense.

 3. New Ways to Get Your Business Found

Besides the fact that a blog gives you a chance to reach audiences via search engines, it also is quite simply, yet another way for an online small business to be found by customers. Let’s face it, Google likes freshly updated content that can be shared and promoted and if your blogging strategy is well thought out, you can easily leverage your business blog to boost your business presence online.

 4. An Organic Way to Optimize Your Website

Blogs with content that is well-written, researched and valuable is often shared across social networks and bookmarking sites. More over, it is linked to and linked from. These organic optimization methods help build up your overall SEO and offer you a low-cost and organic way of optimizing your website.

 5. Creating Another Customer Service Channel

Yes, your business blog can be a way to serve your customers. Readers who have a query or a problem know that you or someone from your team can be reached via the blog. A simple email will bring them results and speedy customer service means satisfied customers.

 6. Boosting Recognition as an Expert

Are you providing a service that is similar to those provided by others? Is your product competing with many in a small niche? How can you set yourself apart from the rest? By becoming an expert. A blog gives you the opportunity to share your wealth of wisdom with customers seeking information that would help them make a decision. By posting not just on your blog but also on others in your niche you would gain a two-fold advantage – newer audiences and expert status.

 7. Create a Database of Interested Customers

Since you’d be blogging and sharing relevant information with your readers, chances are they’ll be coming back to you for more. This offers you a great opportunity to create a database. Setting up a mailing list using a service like MailChimp or Aweber is super-simple and you can offer your customers a chance to sign up for specials, updates and information, creating a database of prospects.

8. Building Your Brand Image

Yes, your blog is great for your brand image. The regularly updated content, the value that you add via engagement and the relevance of the information you share is an effective way to build up brand recognition and loyalty. You form a relationship of trust with your customers and that is one of the best ways to market your products and services.

 9. Helping Your Customers Know YOU

Do you like dealing with a business where you don’t know who the people are behind it? Not really. That is why most business websites have an About Us page.

A blog goes beyond that page and invites readers into your business. It shows them what YOU are all about. You don’t have to share personal information with your readers, but you can still add a personal element to business posts by sharing your favorite products or telling them the story behind a particular service.

Yes, a blog adds the much-needed human touch to a business.

 10. Spur Customers into Action

Finally, a blog offers you a SUPER way to spur your prospects into action. They don’t land on a static website that offers no engagement, they reach articles that speak to them, solve their problems and actually show them how you or your product can help them. By making it easy for them to learn about you and reach you, you’re making it easy for your business to reach them. They can read through comments, engage in discussions and best of all, come away convinced that they ‘need’ your business.

Stay tuned for the next post in the Business Blogging 101 series, in which we’ll show you how to get started with a business blog. 

 

Are you ready to grow your business by blogging? Do you already have a blog? Share with us in the comments or sign up for a FREE one-on-one session  to create a blog strategy that works. 

 Photo Credit: Search Engine People Blog