Exposing customers to your business builds brand recognition and trust. The more you put your business out there the more likely it is to be seen. Similarly, the more you blog, the more likely customers are to see your business. A business blog is a great way to build brand recognition and trust with customers.
The goal with this article is to help you understand the benefits of having a blog for your business. Though a blog is helpful, it may not be the answer for everyone, though, so I’ll cover ways to know if it’s not for you.
Starting a business blog will benefit you, your visitors, and most of all your business which is why I’ll start with the benefits.
Benefits of a Business Blog
A blog for your business will benefit many aspects of your business besides the obvious. With a small time investment, you could be increasing your chances 100% or more at finding new customers online. I’ll start with how a business blog will help you.
Your Benefits
You’ll personally benefit from a business blog in one major way but also many smaller ways.
The major benefit: Blogging for your business helps externalize your work processes to cement your skills even further. You’ll become even more of an expert than you already are!
Better writing is another benefit. Business relies a lot on written communication, especially with the Internet and email. You don’t have to be a professional writer to be good at writing, though, you just have to write. Blogging for your business gives you a writing outlet that makes you a better writer.
Blogging cements your industry knowledge and positions you as the established expert. Click To TweetThe personal connections you’ll make from blogging help you make connections and build relationships. Meeting new people in your industry opens up your world to learning better ways of doing your work and new people to partner with. Networking is a huge part of growing a business and blogging will help make networking easier online.
You’ll benefit a lot from blogging for your business, but there’s more who will also benefit.
Your Visitors Benefits
People come to your website because you have answers that can help them do their job better or make their life better in some way. Your business blog gives you the opportunity to help your website visitors out with their inquiries, exactly what Google is trying to do.
If you can be genuinely helpful and timely with your help, your visitors will thank you for it and remember your business. There’s also a lot of benefit your business will receive in direct relationship to the benefits your visitors receive.
Your Business Benefits
When you help yourself and your visitors, your business will naturally benefit. If visitors find what they want then you’ve probably found a valuable lead. Those valuable leads that you know are interested in what your business offers could turn into customers with the right nurturing.
More eyes on your website means more leads for your newsletter which gives you more opportunities to grow your brand and business. With a business blog, your business will benefit with a free source of marketing on search engines.
Also, with great content on your blog, people are more likely to share it! The more your content is shared on social media the further your reach will be to attract new visitors. Social media is a powerful tool to reach visitors for your business website and it’s a great way to reach like-minded people who may eventually become leads.
With some of the benefits in mind, there’s still more to think about. Figuring out why you should blog is as important as figuring out the goal of your website.
Goal of Your Website
Knowing the goal of your website is important to know before you jump into creating a business blog. Some goals don’t fit well with a blog while others are the perfect fit.
The goal for your business website could be a number of things. Here are some of the most common goals I came up with:
- Information for current customers.
- Get new leads.
- Get visitors.
- Grow your brand.
Know your website goal before you start on a blog. If you don’t know your goal then you can’t possibly approach your blog the right way. Once you understand your website goals fully, it’s time to make sure you can make the time to commit or spend the money to save your time.
Time Commitment
Blogging can take as much or as little of your time as you’re willing to put into it. The more you put in, though, the more you’ll get out of your business blog.
To give you an idea of how much time a blog post could take, I’ll explain a bit about my commitment.
I blog twice a week on most weeks. My schedule is to post a new post on Monday and on Thursday. Each time I make a post I expect to commit about 3-4 hour to write the post. That includes researching keywords, writing an outline, writing the content, and finally creating images.
Blogging can take up as little or as much of your time. You get out of it what you put in. Click To TweetThat means I spend 6-8 hours a week on my blog. You don’t have to commit that much, though! You can write a blog post every two weeks, or even once a month and that is still better than nothing.
Results for your blog will be much slower the less often you blog, but you’ll still see results. If you blog 11 or more times a month then you’ll see increasingly better results than if you blog 1-10 times a month (see the graph below). I don’t blog 11 times a month and I still see a direct growth in my website traffic and brand presence.
People that I’m connected with know what I do and they’re more familiar with it. They see how I can help them and I don’t have to hard sell them at all. I get contacted by people who I’ve known on social media for ages who are just learning that I can help them grow their business online.
If you don’t have the time to commit to blogging, that doesn’t mean you can’t do it. There’s always a trade-off between time and money which is the next topic.
Money Commitment
You’re busy, you don’t have the time to blog and that’s OK. Even if you aren’t able to do it yourself, blogging is beneficial enough to your business to the point hiring a professional writer is worth the financial burden.
If you have the resources to hire someone, you’ll see a return on investment (ROI) higher than the cost of the freelance writer. Blog posts have the ability to work for your business beyond publishing it too. Your investment in a professional writer can bring new leads to your business years after a post was originally published which means the ROI continues to grow over time.
Your time is valuable, and so is your money. Whether you choose to blog for your business or hire someone, over time your business will see success in growing visitors, brand presence, and leads. There are some cases when blogging isn’t the best option though.
When You Shouldn’t Blog
If you’re sure blogging for your business isn’t going to help you or grow your business, don’t waste your time. Unless you put 100% into your blogging then you probably aren’t going to have the results you want.
Blogging takes effort and researching the right topics to write about. Not only does blogging take a lot of effort but it takes passion for your business. That passion has to come through in your writing. That means if you’re not 100% into it, then it might not be a wise use of your time.
If you're not 100% into blogging, you'll have limited results. Click To TweetNot only that, but blogging might not work for every type of business. Some businesses are such a niche that blogging won’t find the right leads. These cases are rare, but they do exist. If you think you might be in this situation, it’s a good idea to consult with someone on the matter.
Do It
Now it’s time for you to figure out if you’re enthusiastic for growing your business with blogging. There are many questions only you can answer. You’ll be the only one that can truly determine if it’s something you’re willing to spend the time or money on.
Here are some of the questions to ask yourself:
- Are the benefits good enough?
- What is the goal of my website?
- Do I have enough time to commit to blogging?
- If no time, do I have enough money to commit to blogging?
- Do I want to blog?
Once you’ve answered these questions you’ll be ready to get started blogging for your business. If you’re still not sure about some of these answer or you want to talk further, I’m always available to talk and answer your questions.