Starting a business blog or writing a ton of blog content for your business’s website might seem like a huge task. Many business owners I speak to are either unsure how to start a blog for their business’s website, don’t want to take on the task of blogging, or don’t really understand the benefits of having a blog.
All of the points above are totally valid. Blogging can seem like quite a big task. Not just the volume of content that’s required. But the time it takes to create each blog post. Even if you’ve got the time and resources to start a blog, the benefits aren’t always instantaneous. You still may think “what’s the point in starting a blog at all?!”. I had many of the same concerns before I learned more about digital marketing. But I’ve seen how website blogs can significantly help businesses grow. So in this post, I wanted to share some benefits of starting and maintaining a blog post.
In this article, I’m going to cover 3 key benefits of running a blog for your business.
#1 Boost Website Rankings
Writing blog posts can significantly improve how your website ranks in search engine results. Typically, search engines rank websites with blog content a lot higher than websites that do not have any blog content.
There are many reasons why search engines rank sites with blog content higher, including:
- Search engines love it when a website has useful blog content.
- Blog posts enable sites to target a lot more industry-related keywords.
- Blogs create internal linking opportunities, which can increase search rankings.
The better your blog content is, the more readers will likely stay on your page, which is considered a good signal by search engines, thus your site will rank higher. Also, if readers share links to your blog posts via social media, or if other websites add a link to your content in one of their blogs (known as Backlinking), search engines will rank your site higher as they can see that other people are enjoying your blog content.
If your goal is to get your website ranking higher in search engine results (which is what most website owners should be doing!) you’ll need to focus on creating high-quality, valuable blog content regularly. It may take time to see changes in your search engine ranking, but the more effort you put in, and the more patience you have, the higher your website could rank.
#2 Gain New Leads, Client, or Customers
Blog posts are also a good way of getting new customers! When you provide valuable information to your target audience, they’re more likely to want to learn more about your business and how your business can help them. This works both for product-based and service-based businesses.
When you’ve gained a reader’s interest through a blog post, you can direct them from the blog page to another area of your site — either a sales page, a market funnel, or just direct them to sign up to your email list to stay posted on more high-quality content.
Now, crafting blog posts to generate leads can take some time and a lot of experimenting or A/B testing. However, using the right techniques, blogs can be a goldmine for generating new leads, customers, clients, or just new fans of your business.
#3 Generate Extra Revenue
While blogs can help drive up revenue for your main business, you can also use blog posts as a way to earn extra income. To earn this extra income, you’ll need to place affiliate links into your articles. In simple terms, affiliate links earn you a small commission when someone clicks on the affiliate link and buys a product or service on another business’s affiliate page. Many businesses generate affiliate links and incentivize other people or websites to share the links to their products or services in return for a commission.
For example, a digital marketing agency can insert MailChimp affiliate links into their blog post about email marketing. When a reader clicks on the MailChimp affiliate link and subscribes to the email marketing service, the digital marketing agency will earn a commission.
First, you want to find affiliate brand deals that match the topic or industry you’re working in. Once you have relevant affiliate links, you can place the links into your blog posts.
Next, my advice would be to find affiliate link placements that feel like a natural fit and not forced. You can also experiment with placing clickable website CTA buttons and directing your readers to click on the link and make a purchase if they want to. Using affiliate links is an easy way to generate an extra source of income for your business through your website blog.
Start Your Blog & Be Consistent
Starting a blog can seem daunting. However, over the long-term, having a blog can pay off in many different ways — we’ve only highlighted a handful of benefits in this article.
Once you’ve gotten into the momentum of finding great content ideas and writing high-quality, valuable, and entertaining content, it’s just about being consistent and waiting for your hard work to pay off.
For more information on improving your digital marketing strategy and growing your business, read through the latest posts on the Intentionally Inspirational blog.
Written by Lewis James