11 business benefits of blogging … are you missing out?

Usually I spend ages writing a catchy introduction to our blog articles on Marketing Gum, but this time the first point is so powerful I don’t need to…

# 1 – 126% More Leads

In a January 2010 study of 2,300 businesses by inbound marketing gurus HubSpot, it was found that businesses that blog experienced 126% higher lead growth than businesses who did not blog. Check out the research here. Now if that alone isn’t reason enough, here are 10 more business benefits you’re missing out on by not having a blog (and a valuable bonus tip at the end as well) …

# 2 – Attract More Links

How often have you shared a link to a company’s products and services page? How often have you shared a link to a good blog article?

People rarely link to promotional content, but if you’re offering valuable, informative content through your blog articles, then people will link to you. What does that mean for you?

More links = better search engine ranking = more traffic to your blog = more leads :)

# 3 – Free SEO

Every article you write also gives you free SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). If you write blog articles that target niche search terms (also called ‘tail’ or ‘longtail’ terms, versus the more generic ‘head’ terms) you’re more likely to attract highly qualified prospects.

Do some research (or have us do it for you, which we offer for free) so you always target the right keywords that will bring you qualified traffic. Discover what you should be writing about, what your categories should be and what language to use.

For example, targeting the head term ‘coach’ if you’re a business coach might seem appealing (49,500 searches on average every month in NZ alone!), but how do you know the person is looking for a business coach – not a football coach or to book a bus trip? Competition for the word ‘coach’ will also be very high, so it’s much harder for you to rank well for that term.

However, if you write articles that target tail terms – such as the term ‘small business coach’ for example – you not only attract visitors to your blog that are more likely to become clients, you also have less competition in Google, giving you a better chance of ranking well on page 1.

Yes, less people search for those niche tail terms, but the search term itself pre-qualifies them as a prospect for your products and services, plus you’ll find it easier to rank higher in search engines much faster than targeting high-demand, high-competition head terms.

# 4 – More Love from Search Engines

Search engines like Google periodically ‘crawl’ your company’s websites on the lookout for new and updated content. You ideally want Google to visit your site as often as possible. Google loves website that are regularly updated with fresh, well-written, keyword-rich content.

Of course it would be unusual to constantly change and add new content to your website, but it’s expected for this to happen on a blog. Every blog article you write helps you get crawled more often and gets you more ‘authority brownie points’ from Google (yet another aspect of SEO).

The more articles you have and the more frequently you post, the faster Google will re-index your site, meaning new pages you put online will appear in search results faster, and you’ll give your ranking a boost.

# 5 – More Twitter Followers

A new January 2010 study, again from my favourite marketing gurus HubSpot, conducted across 2,100 small businesses, revealed that small businesses with blogs have 79% more Twitter followers than businesses who do not blog.

The same study also found that blogging increases Twitter reach by 113% for B2B companies and 30% for B2C companies. Check out the research here.

# 6 – Improved Reputation

A blog full of valuable content helps position you as the expert in your industry. In fact, 1 of Orchid’s clients routinely gets free PR through media reading their blog articles and wanting to reprint them, or inviting them to write articles for their magazines and newspapers.

When people are in research mode, before they’re ready to purchase a product or service, and they find your article which answers their questions, your reputation improves compared to your non-blogging competitors. You become more credible and every article you write helps further prove your authority on your topic.

“Each thoughtful post on your blog is a public demonstration of your thought leadership, personal integrity, humor, and professional insights. You don’t have to refute one of Einstein’s theories to get respect. For example, a summary of recent trends in your industry, or a reaction to a recent news article can be extremely effective blog posts.” Jonah Lopin

# 7 – Prequalified Prospects

You know those questions potential clients always ask you before they decide if you’re the right solution for their needs? And those questions you always ask them that tell you right away if they are time-wasters or an ideal client?

By answering those questions on your blog and offering that information up front, you can prequalify potential clients when they’re in research mode, even before they’re ready to pick up the phone or email you.

This not only helps boost your leads, it also helps weed out the time wasters, reducing your time and money spent on calls and emails, freeing you up to focus on the types of clients and customers you want to spend your resources on.

# 8 – Improved Social Media Results

Constantly promoting yourself through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, is just going to risk you being seen as a spammer, or annoy your fans and followers with yet more advertising pervading every aspect of their life.

However, if you’re promoting those great blog articles you’ve written that provide information and insights, you’re adding value which increases engagement and reach. Blog articles give you a positive, customer-first way to promote yourself which helps you get more from networking sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

# 9 – Customer Engagement

Building relationships is the key aspect to successful selling. Your articles can instil trust and respect, but your blog can also go to the next step in building relationships by allowing for interaction.

Blogs are described as a social media tool for good reason. Unlike a website which tends to involve one-way communication, on your blog you can engage in two-way conversation. One of the most popular ways to do this is through the comments box.

Another way to build relationships is to ensure your blog offers both RSS and Subscribe by Email options on your blog. Over time you’ll build a database of people who’ve subscribed, meaning every time you add a new article it gets pushed out to your database, allowing you another way to communicate directly with your market and strengthen your relationship.

# 10 – Competitive Advantage

How many of your competitors are blogging? In some industries blogging has been slower to catch on than others. If yours is one of them you can quickly gain a competitive edge by acting now. Even if some of your competitors do blog, are they doing so regularly?

As mentioned earlier, your blog helps prove to the world that you’re an expert in your field. So even if a prospect finds your competitor first, when they start researching before deciding who to engage with, and find your blog that answers their questions, you’ll get their attention and prove you’re the expert they should contact. The chances are if you’re running a blog but your competitors aren’t, the media will also contact you, not them.

# 11 – High Return on Investment

Sneaking in at number 11 is cost versus reward. It’s rare to find a business tool like this that you can utilise for such a low-cost, or even for free, which provides your business with such impressive, proven returns.

What’s more, blogging platforms like WordPress are incredibly easy to use. Great news for the less tech-savvy among us. If you can use Microsoft Word or send an email, you can use WordPress.

BONUS TIP

More articles = more leads, but how many more?

There is a correlation between how many blog articles you write and how well your blog will do at attracting leads. So how many blog articles does  your business blog need in order to grow leads?

At least 20 says the research into Lead Generation Best Practices by HubSpot. Blogs need to reach ‘critical mass’ to make a significant enough impact on search engines.

Want to really boost results? HubSpot’s research also discovered business blogs with 52 or more articles generated on average 77% more leads than companies with blogs in the ’24 to 51’ article group. Check out the research here.

Ready to get started?

• Want a blog for your business that matches your company branding, looks professional and is search engine friendly?
• Want free training so you can take 100% complete and confident control of your blog yourself?
• Need help with selecting a domain name that Google will love you for (hint: it won’t be your company name!)?
• Need guidance on selecting the right keywords so you know what articles to write and what language to use?
• Want free advice on how to maximise results from your blog once it’s live?
• Need a cheap hosting solution with free support?

Then it sounds like you need our Complete Custom Business Blog Package which is on special during July 2010. Contact Orchid today to find out more >>

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- copyright Anna Gervai for Orchid Web Design, July 2010

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 7:27 pm and is filed under Blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, Online Marketing, Social Media, Traffic generation, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.