Blogging Up Business

jroseNo CommentsBlog, Liblime

Many businesses use blogs to encourage website traffic and draw attention to their company. I used to think the only people who blogged were those who liked talking about recipes and some new food item they’d discovered. Those blogs usually involved someone finding a new food item at a farmer’s market and writing about it for several paragraphs. Those were the kinds of things blogs were for, or so I thought. As it turns out, I was wrong, and blogs are an excellent way for businesses to attract potential customers. “A blog (if updated regularly) can provide daily, quality content – which the Search engines love and thus, increase your traffic”, according to a website called streetdirectory. Hubspot also posted an article about effective blogging, stating, “With almost 4 billion people worldwide currently connected to the internet, there has never been a better time for businesses to include blogging in their marketing strategy. Not only does blogging drive website traffic and promote your products and services, but it also helps you build trust with your potential customers.” Building trust and rapport with others is essential to the company’s success.

In 2014 the Huffington Post posted a blog post about blogging on their blog page. They made several points about why blogs can be helpful for businesses.

–       Attract an Audience

  • It’s ideal to attract attention to a business. Blogs, using keywords, help draw customers by landing in the top search results of a search engine. Usually, SEO (search engine optimization) practices accomplish this by boosting the likelihood that search engines will recommend the blog on a results page.
  • Blogging about a particular product, boasting its features, and filling the page with SEO keywords is a great way to draw customer attention to the website.

–       Create Authority

  • The blog should cover topics that are relevant to the company’s industry. As more posts are created and shared, the company will begin to establish itself as an expert in the subject.
  • Becoming an authority on a particular topic isn’t easy. Once that authority is established, others will refer to the company as a source of credible information.

–       Build Rapport and Engagement

  • According to the article, “Blogging can convert traffic into leads and leads into customers. Blogging can “warm up” your cold calls and traffic from other sources. If someone receives your cold call, they may be more receptive if they’ve read your blog and received value from it.”
  • It’s sort of like a stranger asking you what you do. Then you hand them your business card after you describe it. They check out your website, see your blog (hopefully), and request whatever business you offer.

–       Create Opportunities

  • The main point of blogging is to create opportunities for business growth by drawing attention to the site and the business’s talents or expertise.
  • Potential clients see what the company can do for them or how that talent could benefit someone they know.

–       Tell a Story

  • Having a blog for your company can be your own media company. You can tell your story without being dependent on journalists. When writing about a topic of interest, you can decide how to portray a story, and what information to include and exclude. Blogging allows you to ensure all information is factual.
  • This isn’t to say it would be nonfactual if a journalist wrote it, but controlling a company’s story is essential.

–       Stand Out

  • A well-maintained blog can help a company stand out by presenting unique ideas and clarifying previous ones.
  • If the blog has a unique personality that appeals to people, it can become increasingly popular and draw customers.

Blogs have been around for several years and are a great way to benefit a company. Hubspot also posted an article about effective blogging, stating, “With almost 4 billion people worldwide currently connected to the internet, there has never been a better time for businesses to include blogging in their marketing strategy. Not only does blogging drive website traffic and promote your products and services, but it also helps you build trust with your potential customers.” That trust will keep your customers returning, but the blog can help direct them to you initially.

Have you ever written a blog for a company or seen one that stood out to you?

By Gretchen Hendrick Gardella, MLIS

Gretchen Hendrick Gardella is a Librarian with administrative, research, and vast technical skills. Ms. Gardella brings over 16 years of experience working in academic and public libraries to the discussion.