7 reasons why blogging is important for your business

Since the late 1990s, blogging has been a fun and unique way for internet users to share their interests and research their passions. In today’s increasingly digital world, however, blogging has become an essential practice for businesses hoping to grow their company and increase conversion rates.

In fact, recent studies show that businesses who prioritise blogging are 13 times more likely to see a positive return on investment when it comes to their marketing efforts.

Still need convincing why blogging is important for your business?

7 reasons why blogging is important for your business

1. It’ll help you climb the search rankings

Businesses large and small will surely now be aware of the importance of SEO. Effective SEO practices ensure your website will rank highly on search engines, allowing potential customers to find you with ease. Blogging is an ideal way to increase your search engine ranking as companies who blog have been found to receive 67% more leads a month than companies that don’t.

While blog posts are an ideal place to include your company’s chosen keywords and backlinks, they also provide a space for you to provide real insight and actionable information for your client base.

Providing valuable content is a factor that can dramatically increase your search engine rankings, as evidenced by Brian Sutter in this article for Forbes who said:

Sadly, much of the content being published is simply not worth linking to. 75% of it is getting zero inbound links. So forget the ‘more is better’ approach…go with quality instead. Your content will generate links only if it is truly exceptional.

2. Increase customer engagement

Customer engagement and having clear streams of communication with your clients is essential for online marketing. While social media is an effective tool to respond to client comments and queries, blogging is a much more conversational medium and, when used correctly, can be much more engaging.

For example, the supermarket chain Waitrose use their blog to share recipes from customers. This not only ensures customers feel engaged, as they see their creativity championed on the Waitrose website, but it also gives the supermarket a convenient and less-sales-focused medium through which to promote their products.

3. Boost your brand identity

Branding no longer simply means your company logo and slogan. Branding now also includes how customers and potential clients emotionally and psychologically respond to your brand.

By using the same language style, colour scheme and motifs in your blog, you are solidifying your company’s branding that you have established through your website and social media efforts.

Fashion company Pretty Little Thing, for example, use a casual, teenage voice on their blog, attracting their target market and promoting their products by using the very same conversational language their customer base would use: ‘As per, you’ve got endless plans to attend and each requires a bomb outfit’.

Having a blog is, therefore, essential for your business as it helps to build your brand identity.

4. Claim your title as an industry expert

Whether you operate a niche business or have a lot of competitors, you must be able to prove your industry expertise. Customers will feel much more comfortable making an order with you or hiring your services if you can evidence that you are an expert in your field.

For example, you could use your blog to discuss recent developments in your industry, review your products in more detail or theorise on the future of your sector. This information will not only be useful and engaging to clients, but it will also prove you are a knowledgeable and trustworthy brand.

5. Collect invaluable data

Seeing how users navigate your blog can provide you with valuable data about how a customer interacts with your company. For example, if you notice a certain blog post is receiving a large amount of traffic, you can focus your marketing efforts on this topic and produce more content focused on this particular area.

Similarly, you can ask users if they wish to be notified when you post a blog and sign them up to your marketing email list. This will ensure not only that people will be notified when you release a new post but that you can send them additional content you believe will be relevant to get them to return to your site.

6. Prime opportunity to engage those influencers

Since 2014, there has been almost a 400% increase in influencer or paid content promotion on blogs. Businesses who fail to capitalise on this trend are missing out as only 3% of blogs who used paid promotion reported that they were disappointed with the results.

Effective paid promotion blogging could mean hiring an influencer to guest post on your blog or asking them to write a review of your company/services on their blog. For example, a vegan skincare brand may wish to collaborate with a vegan cooking blog to provide a variety of enriching content to a crossover audience that can pay dividends in increased exposure.

7. Drive more targeted traffic

It has been shown that companies who post 16 or more blog posts a month get 3.5 times more traffic than blogs that only post 1-4 posts a month. Naturally, the more quality content you can provide potential customers, the more they will interact with your website and your audience will grow.

Many companies do not have the time or manpower to provide such a number of blog posts, but, fortunately, professional writing services can be utilised to provide the content. When producing a blog post, carefully embed links to your main website and specific product/service pages so you can accurately drive traffic to relevant pages of your website.

There’s never been a better time to start your business blog

These are just 7 reasons why blogging is important for your business – but hopefully it has inspired you to begin or re-launch your company blog. After all, with more and more transactions taking place online, blogging as a business has never been more important.

Before beginning your blog, carefully consider your brand identity and how your blog is going to support or contribute to your existing marketing efforts. If you are unsure where to begin, consider arranging a professional blog package which will take away the stress of writing your own blog. For more content marketing insights, check out the rest of the Copify blog.

Good luck and happy blogging!

Main image credit: Anete Lūsiņa

Internal image credits: Brad Barmore, arembowski, expresswriters