Your business website is finally live and it has all the pages you need. A Home page, an About page, Products/Services page and of course a Contact page. But does it really need a Blog page? The answer is always, yes! It doesn’t matter if you sell doorknobs or you’re a fashion stylist, any website can benefit from regular blog posts. Here are 10 reasons why content writing needs to be part of your marketing plan…
1. Improve SEO and online visibility.
When you publish a new blog, or update an old one, Google comes back to your site to index the fresh content. Search engines prefer websites that continue to add value and relevancy for their users. They don’t want to show outdated results as the answer to a searchers query. To make sure you’re ranking on the first page, give the search engine fresh content that was carefully created to answer common queries.
2. Drive organic traffic with more keyword opportunities.
When writing content for any page on your website it’s important you’re including the keywords you want to show up for. But it can be hard to include a lot of the long-tail, or synonyms, etc of your keywords in your static pages as they might not read naturally. You’re careful not to overdo it with keywords but does that mean you’re missing out on traffic? An effective solution is to keep a regular blog. It’s the best way to ensure you’re getting those long-tail keywords on your site and not losing out on all that extra traffic.
3. Drive sales by publishing reviews on your blog.
Consumers take reviews seriously. Global survey company Qualtrics state that 93% of consumers say that online reviews influenced their purchase decisions. Having a blog page gives opportunity to display reviews as an interesting case study. Or videos showing your customers happily using your products. There are plenty of creative ways you can include reviews in a blog. And consumers love to see real people and real results.
4. Turn boring products/services into interesting stories.
Not every business can be as exciting as a luxury car dealership, or as diverse as the fashion industry. Maybe you sell clothes pegs. And not even some unique pegs that appeal to a niche market, just regular old plastic clothes pegs. So, how do you stand out when your product or service is boring and/or widely available? Well, you make it interesting through the power of words. Your blog posts don’t have to be just about your clothes pegs, they can include tips on washing clothes or different ways to dry clothes when it’s raining. Suddenly your site is more memorable and valuable to the consumer, making your clothes pegs the brand they remember.
5. Establish authority and expertise in your industry.
If you know a lot about the industry you’re competing in, the best way to showcase that knowledge is through blog posts. Answer all those commonly asked questions in blog articles. And demonstrate ‘how-to’ use your product/service through short video posts. If you’ve a lot of content about your industry, your site will show up on the results page. You can quickly build authority and establish expertise when that same consumer keeps seeing your brand whenever they research your industry.
6. Be the business that offers more value than your competitors.
If your products are slightly more expensive than your competitors, explain the reason through blog posts. Your products are dearer because they’re of higher quality, then prove it. If it’s because of excellence in customer service, describe your values and mission in an article that makes consumers appreciate your standards. Or, if your products or services are at the same price point, then have blog posts that offer helpful tips and advice. Be the brand that offers more than just the product.
7. Gives you content for social.
The great thing about writing regular blog posts is how much content and ideas it can give you for your social posts. You can condense long articles into short posts. Or have a social post linking to your blog. You can take information from one of your articles and present it in a different way through a social image post. Edit a how-to video to produce a shorter version for social. Condense your blog post into an interesting infographic for social. Really, the possibilities are endless when it comes to how you can use your blog content in social media.
8. Save time on FAQ.
At the very least, a blog page can help you cut down on administration time by answering all those frequently asked questions through your posts. Even if you continue getting emails or calls asking the same things over and over, just direct them to the relevant post on your site.
9. Give your brand a personality.
Now, more than ever, it’s important for a brand to connect with consumers. People don’t just choose the cheapest option, they want to choose a brand that delivers on the values that matter to them. Blog posts give you the opportunity to really explain what your brand is all about. And by allowing a bit of humour or friendliness into your posts, your brand is suddenly more human and relatable to a customer.
10. Generate leads.
By incorporating the right call-to-action in each post, you’re opening up opportunities to create leads. It could be a ‘learn more’ button after a product teaser that opens communication between you and the consumer. Or a subscribe pop-up after an article. You get a new email contact and the consumer gets to see more of the content that they have just consumed. Leads turning to sales, it’s what business is all about. So, why wouldn’t you increase those chances through another medium?
One of the best things about blog posts is that the long term benefits are way higher than what they originally cost you to create. A post that’s a year or two old can still generate traffic to your site and continues to increase your online visibility long after it’s published. Even taking just one or two of the above reasons should be enough to realise that you are losing out if you don’t have fresh and regular content on your website.
Get in touch for a content marketing quote.