6 Irrefutable Reasons Your Business Needs a Blog

If you’ve been sitting on the fence about blogging, now is the time to take the leap.

Even though blogs are old news, it doesn’t mean their power has diminished. In fact, as the web becomes more focused on ways to share content and filter through all the noise online, I’m convinced blogs are more important now than ever.

If you don’t have a blog on your website, now is the time to do it. If you’re not convinced, read on.

Here are a few reasons why you need to stop what you’re doing and start building your blog today:

It establishes you as an expert in your niche.

Writing a blog is a great way to position yourself as an authority in your field of expertise. Yes, your website talks about all of your credentials, but the difference is that a blog is a way to demonstrate you have deeper knowledge in a subject area.

For instance, if you are an attorney, a blog allows you to go beyond a list of specialities and provide practical application for issues your clients face, discuss legal trends, or analyze new legislation and how it might impact your clients.

See the difference? That’s way better than a stale services page that says you are a full-service law firm any day of the week.

And, by positioning yourself as an expert, it can lead to all sorts of other things like speaking engagements, media coverage or even book deals.

It helps you engage with your customers.

Although your website might be lovely, I’m willing to bet there’s not a great way for your customers to interact with you on it. By adding a blog, you give customers, vendors and site visitors the ability to talk directly to you.

In today’s world of high-tech, adding some high touch to your business will really set you apart. Show that you’re listening by allowing visitors to post comments on your blog. And, even more importantly, respond back. I promise it will blow people away.

It helps you build relationships (and business).

People like to do business with those they know, like and trust. And a blog is a great way to start that relationship.

Because blogs are a bit more personal than the rest of your website, it gives readers a better insight into the people behind the business. And, the interactive nature (see point above) gives people the ability to interact with you before the do business with you.

If you are strategic about your blog’s content and setup, your blog can be a great way for people to get to know you and position them to buy, refer business your way or simply develop wonderful professional relationships.

It increases your search engine rankings.

Search engines like websites that are updated regularly. The problem is that many business websites are stagnant “brochureware” sites that only get updated a few times a year (if that).

By adding a blog, you are increasing your ability to be “found” online by regularly producing new content. Not only does a blog give search engines more content to search, but it also keeps readers and search engines happy by keeping the site fresh.

Also, blog posts are more likely to be linked from other sources, which also gives your search ranking a boost.

It helps you test ideas and get feedback.

Blogging is a great platform for getting a pulse on how your clients, colleagues and even prospects feel about something. Ask questions and find out what their pain points are so you can find ways to make your product or service better help them.

Or, you can also use your blog to flesh out ideas and get feedback on them before you implement a new service. Often, by listening to your blog community, they can help drive the direction of your business.

 

It helps your ideas spread.

Blogs make it easy to spread ideas online. Without a blog, what are people going to share about you and your business? Chances are, they aren’t going to.

Give your fans something to talk about and provide good, useful content on your blog. When you give away the good stuff, people are happy to share and will gladly come back for more.
Why do you blog? If you don’t blog, then what’s holding you back?

Image credit: CK Wong