With the emergence of social media sites that keep you instantly connected, blogging has become increasingly neglected by small business owners. Most business sites have a tab to their blog; however, that tab often brings customers to an outdated page that hosts a handful of articles that are irrelevant to both the customer and the business. The incredible return blogs offer should make them the number one priority of small business owners looking to increase their sales and customer base, though.
These three reasons should provide plenty of incentive to start – or restart – your small business blogging efforts:
Work Your Way Up Search Engine Rankings
Any business owner with an online presence knows the importance of search engine rankings. While the constant search engine updates and ambiguous criteria for page rank are unclear at best, there are simple ways to catapult to the top of the rankings without keyword stuffing. A website that provides quality content and consistent updates will work its way up the rankings, even if the owner only has a limited knowledge of SEO. While tweaking your site will somewhat do the job, a blog is a great platform to increase SEO terms within your site and keep your website on the radar of major search engines.
The trick is to think of your blog like any other marketing opportunity. Identify your blog’s mission and audience then appeal to that demographic. By restricting your blog’s scope, you will naturally use and focus on certain phrases or ideas that draw the attention of search engines. Rather than providing meaningless fluff or repetitive phrases, you provide your audience with content they actually want to read while simultaneously increasing your search engine rankings.
Increase Your Audience Size
Small business owners face many hurdles when it comes to increasing their audience. While major brands have extensive marketing teams and budgets, a small business owner can’t afford the expense or time needed for lofty marketing endeavors. A company blog is an incredibly simple way to expose your company and brand to a wider audience without any added expense.
A blog with a clear goal and audience base will be able to attract the core demographic your company is interested in and turn them into customers. By providing up-to-date articles and analyzing trends within your industry, web searches will naturally turn up your site, giving your business a free introduction to new audience members.
Integrating your blog with your social networking profiles is another great way to expand your audience. This connection also provides a simple way to update social media with meaningful articles. Many fans or followers on your social media profiles may not organically make their way to your website. Linking to your blog updates on your other social media accounts, however, gets those users back onto your site and may facilitate a sale.
Social media also encourages the sharing of quality content. A blog post that is interesting and informative to your core audience will result in that article – and subsequently your blog and website – being shared with the networks of your fans. This provides a natural way to increase your audience.
Expand Your Knowledge
Owning a small business is a time intensive endeavor. While the business may be your passion, developing the knowledge and keeping up to date with your industry can easily get neglected when dealing with more concrete demands such as payroll or billing. A blog is a great opportunity for you to continue developing knowledge of your industry in a way that nets sales and customers.
Creating a blog that grabs an audience’s attention and stays relevant requires research and work. Attending conferences and tapping connections within the industry for information and insight is not only a great way to add articles to your blog, it’s also a great way to stay relevant. Keeping your knowledge current allows you, as a business owner, to spot new trends and fresh talent. While this incentive may be enough for some small business owners to stay current in their field, a blog provides a tangible reason to keep at it.
If your business isn’t blogging, it should be. A blog is a fantastic device that nets positive results for every facet of your business. From an increase in audience to an increase in sales to an increase in knowledge, a blog is the best marketing tool available to small business owners who can’t afford Super Bowl ads or prime time commercials.
