We’re fans of blogging for the same reasons we’re fans of social media – our blog brings a lot of traffic to our website, and helps us to connect with potential clients. But, it also allows us to do a whole range of things which would be very hard to do using other social media platforms alone.

Increasingly, basic brochure websites which feature the same old content for months on end, just don’t deliver enough.

So here are our top 5 reasons why you should consider getting a blog for your business:

1. A blog significantly increases the value you’re offering to a website visitor.

If you’re in a services business, blogging about aspects of the service you provide can help to educate your potential customers about the challenges involved; and “help” articles provide a free resource which keep people coming back.

If you’re selling to consumers, the topics you choose to blog about can help to build your brand identity – for example, a luxury swimwear brand might blog about high end holiday destinations or spas. Those topics are likely to be of interest to your customers, while emphasising your product’s link to a desirable lifestyle.

2. A blog improves your business’s search engine rankings.

Google and other search engines love “fresh” content, so regular new items appearing on your site is a big plus – and far more constructive than just switching around the phrases on your static web pages!
If you choose, you can use blogging in a very focused way primarily for SEO , although this can be difficult to combine with the value aspect above, so choose your priorities carefully.

3. A blog offers a fantastic opportunity to differentiate your business.

A year’s worth of blogging provides a breadth of content which demonstrates your expertise (for a service business) or aspects of your product in use, far better than a standard web page.
Your static web pages are where you ensure that all the basics are covered for prospective customers; your blog provides an insight into the real personality and values of your company.
When we’re looking for partners, we always look for a blog section on their websites as it gives a much clearer idea of what they’d be like to work with!

4. A blog maximises the impact of your other social media activity.

Being able to Tweet about a new blog post, to a receptive audience, radically increases the level of traffic it’ll get; and conversely, people who enjoy your blog posts are more likely to follow you on Facebook or Twitter.

If the tone and content of your blog is suitable, it’s also easy to integrate with a Facebook page or LinkedIN profile, so that fresh content appears there automatically.

For Facebook, check out Networked Blogs. On LinkedIn, you can either use the WordPress application if you have a WordPress blog, or the Blog Link app – both can be found under the More > My Applications menu when you’re logged in to LinkedIn.

5. Your blog can begin to create a community around your business.

You really should set up your blog to allow comments on each article – if you’re worried about spam or inappropriate comments, most platforms have either a moderation function to allow you to approve comments before publishing, and / or various spam blocker options.

Once you’ve done that, your blog becomes an ideal place for a discussion to begin. As well as providing lots of additional web traffic, you might learn all sorts of things from your readers in the course of that discussion which will help you improve your products or tailor your marketing messages.

There are lots of resources out there which can help you with various aspects of starting a blog, from technical to how to write great posts.

We provide setup, hosting and (if needed) content for our clients’ blogs, so if you’re not sure where to start, give us a call – or feel free to ask any questions below!