The Top 10 Benefits of Business Blogging

Like the word “podcast”, which bridges the two old-fashioned terms “iPod” and “broadcast”, blogging has an equally outdated moniker. 

The shortened form of “weblog”, it has its roots in the late nineties, when the Spice Girls ruled the charts and Melrose Place was the hottest thing on television.

For that reason, you might have viewed business blogging (sometimes known as “content marketing”) as an antiquated form of lead generation and outreach. Even the word “blog” sounds like “blah”.

And who wants to be a blah-ger (blogger)?

Yet, the truth is that business blogs are more effective, and cost-effective, than ever, especially with the constant connectivity that the Digital Age allows. 

Business blogging is simply the process of creating great (usually written) content for your website. And it’s key to Google’s awareness of your expertise and authority in your niche. And awareness in Google leads to brand awareness, which leads to market share.

On the fence about business blog benefits?

Here are 10 reasons why starting a business blog could be a true competitive advantage, and the smartest move you make this year. 

1. Establish Thought Leadership

According to one survey, 55% of decision-makers use thought leadership to vet a business. Thought leadership is a buzzword that gets thrown around a lot, but what does it really mean?

In short, a thought leader is someone who has established their expertise in a given niche. If you do it correctly, others will perceive you as one of the go-to authorities in your subject matter, which can take your business a long way. 

However, it has to be more than hot air. Your business partners, stakeholders, and customers alike are smarter and more intuitive than you think. They can tell if you’re bluffing and getting caught can do irreversible damage to your reputation. 

Writing a business blog is like taking the stage at open mic night. The floor is yours and you can say what you want. If you use the space to deliver meaningful, relevant content that answers a question, expresses a new idea, or brings value to your readers, you’ll earn credibility with your audience. 

(You know, like this very article about business blogging.)

The next time they interact with your brand, they’ll know what to expect. They’ll listen intently and curiously because you already proved worthy of their trust. Once you have that coveted confidence, you’re well on your way to earning their long-term loyalty.

2. Gain Website Traffic

Do you ever wonder who really visits your website? You took the time to invest in design and development, and you beefed it up with some marketing copy, but is it really making the impact you expected?

There are a few different ways you can gauge the success of your site, but measuring web traffic is the most direct. Most site builders include built-in analytics that deliver insights into key metrics such as:

• Unique pageviews
• New visitors
• Returning visitors
• Traffic sources
• Bounce rate (or the new GA4 term “Engagement”)
• Time spent on site

Like a kid at a lemonade stand, you want visitors. The more eyes on your site, the easier it is to attract and convert your target viewers. Your “About Us” page and team bios alone might not be enough to spike traffic, but you can improve your numbers by tailoring your blog to be as appealing as possible. 

To do so, think about your customers. Who are they and what type of information are they looking for? What are some of their most common questions? 

Conduct keyword research to learn about the most popular topics and search terms in your industry. Then, create blogs that speak directly to those talking points to increase your online presence. Be sure to internally link those posts to other sections within your website, such as landing pages and service pages, to offer more value. 

This way, when someone clicks on a link, they won’t click out of your site. They’ll just go to another section where they can learn more and keep exploring. 

Be sure to use some juicy keywords when you internally link. There’s no Google penalty for doing so, and these terms will help it better understand the content you’ve pointed it to on your site.

3. Appeal to Specific Clients 

The key to a successful blog is to address people not just at the beginning, exploratory stage of their customer journey, but at every touchpoint afterward, too. This can be difficult to do with a website alone. 

One visitor might click on your “Services” page because they already know about your company and they’re ready to take the next step. Others might find your blog via a Google search or social media post, and they have no idea what you do.

The beauty of a blog is that it’s never one-size-fits-all. You don’t have to write about the same topic each time. In fact, we definitely recommend against that. Fortunately, most business topics can be pretty dense, so there’s always plenty to write about.

Write a variety of posts designed to cater to clients at specific points on their customer journey. For instance, one blog might be a “behind the scenes” post that allows brand-new visitors to take a peak inside your operations and learn what you do. Another might be a more technical piece about a certain product or service feature; akin to “advance customer service”.

As long as the posts are neatly organized and searchable, this can be a great way to attract a range of past, current, and future customers. Visitors can search for the terms they need and read only the content that applies to them. However, if the blogs are well-written enough, you increase visitor satisfaction, and they may decide to keep reading long after they’ve found the information they need.

4. Grow Your Bottom Line

Let’s be honest. You aren’t blogging for your health. 

The ultimate goal of a business blog is to generate buzz, awareness and visibility around your company, product, or service. If you use search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to make sure your posts are relevant to your target readers, you’re already one step ahead. 

SEO is the process of arranging your website to make it highly visible as people search online for products or services related to your business. If both your site and your blog are optimized for SEO, that visibility is easier to achieve. 

By adding elements such as keywords, backlinks, title tags, and meta descriptions to your blogs, you can improve your likelihood of landing as high as possible on the search engine results pages (SERPs). Seeing as the first page of Google captures 71% of all web traffic and more than 25% of people click on the first result they see, this is a position you want to be in. 

If high-value stakeholders find your blog and read something that piques their interest, they’re more likely to remember and think of you when it’s time to make a purchase. Over time, this can increase your total number of sales and improve your revenue. 

5. Showcase Your Brand Personality 

All brands have a personality, whether they know it and embrace it or not. Is yours working to your advantage or turning prospects away? 

It can be difficult to translate your brand personality on a screen. While websites are becoming increasingly interactive and customer-focused, they’re still limited in terms of voice. The copy on your site consists largely of standard product descriptions, your company history, and other basic facts. 

You might be able to flex your creative muscles a little in terms of site design and layout, but a blog offers even more freedom of expression. This is your place to tell readers what your company is about and what your brand entails. 

Yet, resist the urge to go rogue. The color palette, style, and tone of voice you use should be on-brand throughout the blog. Even if they aren’t consistent in content, your blogs should still complement one another visually and share a similar style. 

If someone reads one blog, decides it isn’t for them, and clicks away to a competitor, that cohesiveness won’t matter. Yet, remember: Those aren’t the readers you’re targeting in the first place. The goal is to target people who want to stick around, and are invested in what you have to say.

As they click around on your blog, the posts should all flow seamlessly in terms of visual style. This reinforces your brand voice, improves readability, and creates a more streamlined appearance. These elements work together to help your business appear more legitimate, which improves customer loyalty and improves your sales potential. 

6. Gain Exposure and Publicity

As soon as you click “Publish” and send your blog into the universe, others are free to see it, discuss it, and share it. They may also link back to your content in their own blogs or websites. Those backlinks are Google’s favorite thing, actually, because it’s very difficult to get one naturally.

This is a truly efficient way to reach even more people in your industry, including members of your target audience who might not have found your content organically. The best part? The publicity is all free. 

Before long, you’ve catalyzed a chain reaction. Site traffic is growing, the brand buzz is loud, and people are exploring your other blogs to get insights on related topics. In addition to reaching your target market, this is also a great way to catch the attention of journalists and other respected power players in your field. 

If you write regularly about what’s going on in the industry and deliver a unique perspective on current, relevant events, then the media may soon catch on. Whether you’re writing for them or not, it’s helpful to create and share posts that are reader-friendly, easy to access, and insanely shareable. 

We see the results of our blogging in our Google Analytics and in external tools such as Ahrefs every month. Our visibility is growing, due to, in large part, our blogging.

7. Nurture Relationships

You might not think of your business as being in a relationship, but it’s more connected than you may realize. 

Not only are you trying to appeal to future client prospects, but you want to nurture the leads you already have and help existing customers turn into repeat, long-term loyalists who spread the word within their own community. You’re also associated with other companies, both the ones competing in your own space and others outside of your industry. 

When those relationships are strong, it shows in everything you do. Your marketing campaigns are more successful, your networking efforts are more effective and your sales numbers are up. On its own, a blog isn’t enough to sustain those connections, but it can serve as a valuable part of a greater outreach strategy. 

8. Send Up Signal Flares to Google

How can you make sure people find your blog in a sea of competing ones? We’ve already covered the basics of SEO, but it’s important to know how it works. 

When you blog regularly on content that brings value to your readers, Google takes notice. Blogs tip off the search engine giant that your website is active, and that it should check back with you to stay informed on your latest updates. 

That process of checking is called crawling, and Google doesn’t crawl every site the same. Its crawler, dubbed Googlebot, uses sophisticated algorithms to determine how often to crawl your site, and what to look for. 

If the bot scrapes your site and sees relevant keywords and topics on your blog, it will begin to associate you as an authority on that content. Over time, this can inch you higher and higher in the SERP rankings. 

9. Enhance Social Media Content

Once you’ve written a great blog, don’t just keep it to yourself. Promotion is key, and social media makes it easy. By linking to your most recent blog on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, you can increase your exposure. 

People can also take that link and share it with their own followers, which helps improve your thought leadership and brand reputation.

While your social media calendar should be filled with more than just rehashes of your blog content, sharing your blog articles is a simple and effective way to bulk up your feed, connect with others, and get backlinks to your site. 

10. Achieve Long-Lasting Results

The most successful blogs are those that are consistently filled with fresh, interesting content. However, that doesn’t mean that all of your old posts just fall by the wayside once they enter the archives. 

Rather, research reveals that some older blogs can continue to attract an audience and convert readers through views and social shares, even years after they were first published. That can lead to some eye-opening ROI.

It just takes time.

If you have posts that continue to gain authority and rise in rank over time, update them to serve your current goals. As long as they’re bringing in a reasonable amount of traffic, look for ways you can refresh them such as updating time-sensitive data and adding newer links. 

Think of it as a T.V. celebrity who continues to earn royalties long after their show finale airs. Your older blogs could be more valuable than you think, long after their initial debut. 

Discover the Advantages of Business Blogging 

Interested in business blogging, but not sure where to begin? At Boomcycle, we get it, and we’re here to help.

The right blog can help you find and reach more customers, but it can be hard to put your business value into words. That’s where we come in. Once we understand thoroughly what you do, we can help you write your blog, or even do it for you, completely.

Our digital marketing services are designed to take the guesswork out of business growth. We’ll work with you to determine what you need and the direction you want to go with your business’s blog. Then, we’ll deliver expert services that improve your visibility, grow your network, and get you noticed for all the right reasons. 

And being noticed for the right reasons leads to our favorite things: conversions. Sales.

Contact us today for a free consultation and let’s take this next step together.

As your business prospects grow and website inquiries increase, you’ll come to love the word “blogging”.