Daniel Vaczi
To blog, or not to blog, that is the question. Many business owners have mixed feelings about the addition of blogging to their marketing strategy.
Some feel they don’t have time to write quality content on a regular basis, or feel unsure about the return on investment.
Some even feel they do not have the creativity to consistently come up with inspiring share worthy content that their target market would be interested in.
Do any of these sound like you? We can all agree that decisions should not be made without reviewing the facts. I have compiled some facts to help you with your decision.
1. A blog will generate web traffic
Did you know that websites with active blogs generate 55% more visitors than websites that do not? How much business could you generate from a 55% increase in web traffic?
This figure came from a survey of 1500 small businesses. The business owners surveyed reported they were able to decrease marketing dollars spent on pay-per-click (PPC), direct mail and telemarketing because of the traffic created from their blog.
2. A blog will improve engagement on Social Media
Social media is growing and is a great way to engage and interact with your target market. On social media platforms you have a limited amount of characters. Twitter allows 140 characters, Facebook allows 520 characters, etc.
A blog allows you to develop your ideas completely, without character limitations. Now you can post a single sentence lead in to your topic on your social media platforms and include a link back to your blog article.
Once an interested party clicks the link, they are now reading your article on your website. This brings them one click away from your contact info or call to action. Tell me that does not get you excited.
3. A blog will increase your ranking in search engines
The more keyword rich content you generate, the more search engines will find (and love) your website. Blogging is an easy way to accomplish this.
Companies that regularly blog have 434% more indexed pages. The more pages you have indexed, the more valuable you seem to search engines. They reward you by ranking your website higher for the specific keywords you used.
Another benefit for the blogger is that on average, a website with a blog will have 97% more inbound links. It's no secret that the more inbound links your website has the higher your website will rank in search engines.
4. A blog doesn't have to be time consuming
Many business owners do not have the time or creativity to constantly develop engaging blog articles. This is not a reason to not have a blog.
Great leaders delegate! Find a person, or team on your staff that is proficient at writing and knowledgeable about your company/industry.
If an internal team is not an option, you can contract industry specific professional writers, or a blog management outsource partner. These are great options for smaller teams that need a less "hands on" solution.
Regardless of how you feel about blogging, the facts are indisputable. Having a blog on your company's website is a huge marketing advantage that you should be capitalizing on.
