Why Do Websites Need Blogs?

Businesses are investing a lot of resources to establish a presence on social media networks like Google+, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. However, funneling all of your time and money into social networks should not be your only form of Internet marketing. Some companies assume that optimizing their social media networks is enough to boost their online presence, but a blog can also play a vital role in engaging potential customers.

Here are five reasons why you should equip your website with a blog:

1.  Drive Organic Traffic to your Website

Blogs are great for moving your SEO strategy forward. Usually, businesses implement a website that is completely static, meaning that the content on the website does not change. This can lead to outdated information about products, people, and company initiatives. It’s important to have a platform that can easily reflect the different events in the company and any content changes. Blogs provide this platform.

Even more importantly for search engine marketing (SEM), search engines will index new content  on a regularly updated blog. A well maintained blog will help drive traffic to your website.

2.  Develop Relationships with Customers

Pay-Per Click campaigns and other paid advertising services are a great asset to your Internet marketing strategy. However, they should act more as a supplement to your organic marketing efforts. These marketing tactics only give you one-way traffic, whereas blogging and blog commenting provides a unique way to help your customers and potential customers interact with your company. This can help increase the public’s confidence in your products or services, as well as develop a favorable and approachable overall image.

Each blog should come equipped with a comments section where readers can comment about each post or ask questions. It is important to be timely in your response to these questions and comments (if relevant). It helps form a more personable relationship between the company and the customer, which will help humanize your brand.

3.  Boost Social Media Marketing Efforts

Most businesses these days understand the importance of social media for online success. However, most companies, especially small businesses find it difficult  to figure out how to use these various social networks weekly, if not daily.

A routinely updated blog offers a great source of content  that can be re-used and shared on social media channels like Google+, Facebook, and Twitter.

4.  Become an Industry Go-To for Knowledge

If your business creates a durable and strong conversation with your blog’s followers, you can connect with your customers directly. Ideally, your blog may turn out to be a go-to site for buying a product/service or researching more about your industry. Blogging will help gain the consumer’s trust.

5.  Enhance Content Marketing Efforts

Content marketing is the key to online success, because quality content marketing drives organic traffic to your website. It does this through targeting keywords and providing fresh, quality, and relevant content. However, for most websites it’s hard to produce new content for your website because you are not always marketing new services or products. This is where a blog can come in handy because you can produce new content about various related topics to your business. Search engines pickup this content and index it, potentially increasing your search engine rankings.

Getting Started On Your Business Blog

Although a blog offers a variety of benefits, it is important that your company uses this marketing tool in a way to get better results online. Below are a few things that you should keep in mind when creating and implementing a successful blog.

1.  Focus on content:  Quality over quantity is an important note to remember when creating a blog. Businesses make the mistake of publishing a lot of posts with nothing significant to offer. Focus on publishing high-quality content that will offer value to your readers. This will keep them coming back for more.

2.  Make regular updates:  Setting up a blog isn’t enough to get the job done. You need to be publishing quality content on a regular basis. We suggest one weekly post at a minimum, but encourage you to shoot for 3 to 5 posts a week of 500 to 1,000 words each. If you do not update your blog regularly, your readers will go elsewhere to find the content they are looking for.

3.  Install a proper feedback mechanism:  Publishing high-quality content on a regular basis is great, but does your blog allow for feedback from your readers. A comment section can turn your blog into a two way communication method between you and your clients. Obviously, you are hoping to receive positive feedback, but negative feedback can be important too–it tells you what you’re doing wrong and can help you tailor your posts towards topics your readers are really interested in.

4.  Market your content:  A blog is a great tool for search engine marketing (SEM), but another goal is to make sure that it is actually being read by your target audience. Promote your blog via your various marketing channels (i.e. social media, email, etc.) This will help you grow your reader base and promote social sharing.

Maintaining a blog for your business website is very important. Blogs can help personalize your brand and create stronger relationships with your target market in a way that other marketing channels simply cannot do.