When starting any kind of online or virtual business, you may be wondering if having a blog is actually important. YES, it 100% is. Blogging has many benefits, and in this blog post, I am going to break down the 10 most important reasons you should start a blog on your website.
While the idea of starting a blog and creating content for it may seem overwhelming, it really doesn’t have to be. Especially when you start blogging with a clear intention – to grow and scale your business.
By understanding the benefits that blogging can bring to your business, you can come up with a content calendar that will help you leverage each of those benefits. This will make your blogging journey and start-up so incredibly easy.
Let’s get started by breaking down each benefit that starting a blog website will have for your online or virtual business.
10+ Benefits For Your Business When You Start A Blog Website
Establishes You As The Authority In Your Industry
I want you to consider how you currently find information about the products or services you are interested in. Do you go to the company’s website? Do you do a quick Google search?
Chances are, your answer to both of these questions was a resounding yes. And we do this because we want to answer these common questions that enter our minds whenever we are making a buying decision:
- Is this company reputable?
- Do they know what they are talking about?
- Can they help me solve the problem I am having?
- Can I trust this company to deliver the results they are promising?
- Will their product or service be worth the investment?
As a business owner, it is your job to answer these questions and to establish yourself and your company as the authority figure in your industry for your customers. And one of the most effective ways to do this is through blogging.
When you start a blog on your website and share high-quality, well-researched content with your ideal clients and customers, you can easily answer all those questions. You become the authority in your industry in their minds. And you invite them to make a buying decision.
It Helps Drive Traffic To Your Website
Blog content can also help you to drive traffic directly to your website which in turn can bring in new customers for your business. This is thanks to the power of the internet and search-based platforms such as Google.
Whenever you publish a new blog post on your website, you are creating a page on your website that can be found by people who are searching for answers to their questions online. To do this effectively, you will need to:
- learn how to do keyword research – by finding the exact keywords and phrases that people are typing into search-based platforms, you will then be able to create content that answers those exact questions.
- optimize your blog posts for those keywords – once you know what people are searching for, you need to make sure that your blog post is optimized for those keywords. This means using the keywords throughout the article in a way that makes sense and flows well. It should never feel forced.
- create content consistently – the more consistent you are in creating valuable content for your readers, the more Google and other search algorithms will start to trust your content, and the more they will show it to people searching online for answers and solutions to their problems.
Keep in mind, the higher your blog post ranks in the search engines, the more traffic it will drive to your website.
You Can Create Comprehensive Content That Sells Your Services or Products
One of the great things about having a blog is your ability to guide your customers through the buying journey. So, each piece of content on your blog should do at least one of the following things:
- agitate their problem – so that they are even more eager to buy your service or product
- teach or show them how your product or service will make their life easier and solve their problems
- build trust between them and your company – you can do this with reviews, testimonials, and even by offering free value such as helpful PDF guides, checklists, etc.
- answer their questions and/or objections
Then, you can guide your buyer through all of this content until they reach a point where they are ready to pay you their hard-earned money.
Lead Generation Is Much More Simple
If you want to generate leads for your business, then you will definitely want to pay attention to this!
One of the most impactful ways to generate leads for your business is to offer additional free value in exchange for their email address. These are commonly known as content upgrades. Doing this directly on your blog is one of the most effective ways to do this.
Ideas for really popular content upgrades include a PDF guide, checklist, video tutorial, 3-day email challenge, etc. The key is to make sure that it is something that your ideal client would find valuable and worth exchanging their email address for. Then, you can promote these content upgrades on your website, in your blog posts, and on your social media accounts.
You will find that your content upgrades do not work nearly as well on social media, and this is because of how fast-paced and distracting social media is.
Whereas, when someone is on your website, reading your blog post, they are fully focused on what you have to say. And, if what you have to say is valuable and helpful, then they will be more than happy to sign up for your content upgrade in exchange for their email address.
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Your Content Can Help You Build A Relationship With Your Customers
If you want to build a relationship with your customers, then you need to start creating long-form content, and blogging is one of the best ways to do this.
The great thing about blogging is that you can start to build a relationship with your readers from the very first blog post that they read. You can do this by:
- offering lots of value
- showing your personality or the mission of your business
- being transparent
- answering their questions
The more helpful and valuable your blog content is, the more likely it is that your ideal customers and clients will start to trust you, and will continue to come back to you for help and answers to their questions.
Truthfully, there is no better way to build relationships in your business.
The Blog Posts Can Be Repurposed For Social Media, Podcasts, Etc.
Another great benefit to blogging is that you can easily take your blog posts and repurpose them into other formats. This can include podcasts, videos or captions for social media, YouTube videos, email newsletters, and more.
For example, let’s say that you wrote a blog post about the “10 Best Tips For Losing Belly Fat”, you could then take that blog post and create a:
- 3-minute video on Instagram sharing the top 3 tips from the blog post
- 15-minute podcast episode going into detail about each of the 10 tips
- graphic for Pinterest with the title of the blog post and a link back to the full blog post
- live stream on Facebook
The possibilities for this are endless and it is a really effective marketing strategy.
It Drives Long-Term Results
Unlike social media which can be short-lived and extremely fast-paced, blogging is something that will continue to generate results for your business long into the future. This is because every single blog post that you write and publish will be on your website forever. And, as long as people can find your blog post, they will be able to read it and benefit from the information inside of it.
So, if you want to generate leads and sales for your business long-term, then blogging should definitely be a part of your marketing strategy.
Can Help You Communicate Your Message And Mission
In order to build trust with your potential customers or clients, it will be important to be able to clearly communicate your brand mission. Blogging will give you a platform to do this in a way that feels authentic and helpful, rather than salesy or pushy.
People want to do business with companies whose mission they can get behind, so make sure to communicate yours in a way that will resonate.
Provides A Distraction Free Environment For Your Leads
As I’ve already said in this blog post, social media can be extremely distracting. However, your blog will provide a distraction-free environment for your potential customers/clients to have their questions answered, learn more about your products and services, book consultation calls with you, etc.
There is immense value in being able to talk to your customer in a distraction-free environment and is a strategy you should not dismiss.
It’s A Budget-Friendly Way To Market Your Business
A lot of people think that starting a blog website is going to cost too much money. But starting a blog website is actually a very budget-friendly way to market your business.
If you start your website using WordPress (which I recommend because it is very user-friendly), the domain name will only cost you around $15/year and hosting will cost you around $200/year.
So, for less than $215/year, you can have a blog website that has the potential to generate leads and sales for your business on autopilot.
Are you looking for honest, trustworthy, budget-friendly hosting? Check out, Lyrical Host!
Lyrical Host is my personal favorite WordPress website hosting company. They are transparent, have amazing customer support, and have a good variety of options to suit every business and every budget. PLUS, they are offering a 10% discount code for new customers. Use the code: REMOTE10 to claim your discount.
If you want to learn more about Lyrical Host, go here!
Is It Better To Start A Blog Or Website?
This is a common question that I get asked and the answer is that it really depends on your goals.
If you are planning to use this as a marketing strategy and enjoy all the benefits that were outlined in this post, then starting a blog website is the best route to go.
However, if you just want to start a website for your business in order to have an online presence, and it won’t play a large role in your marketing strategy, then starting a website may be a better option for you.
How Much Does It Cost To Start A Blog Website?
Starting a blog website doesn’t have to cost you a bunch of money. In fact, it is one of the most budget-friendly ways to market your online or virtual business.
To have full ownership rights and control, I highly recommend starting with WordPress.org. The installation of WordPress will be included with most hosting plans. Be sure to check that yours does.
I personally recommend Lyrical Host which costs less than $200 per year and includes many features. Go here to learn more.
Are you looking for honest, trustworthy, budget-friendly hosting? Check out, Lyrical Host!
Lyrical Host is my personal favorite WordPress website hosting company. They are transparent, have amazing customer support, and have a good variety of options to suit every business and every budget. PLUS, they are offering a 10% discount code for new customers. Use the code: REMOTE10 to claim your discount.
If you want to learn more about Lyrical Host, go here!
Then you will also need a domain name which you can register with GoDaddy for less than $15 per year.
So, all in all, you can easily start your blog website for less than $215 per year. It will be up to you if you wish to purchase anything else for your blog or if you want to hire help to build the website or outsource the content creation. But for a basic blog website, these are the only start-up costs.
Blogging is an incredible tool that every business should leverage to grow its online presence. By understanding the benefits of blogging, you can start your blog website with intention and turn it into a sales and lead generation machine for your business.
If you’re still on the fence about starting a blog for your business, I want to encourage you to start with just one blog post. See how it goes, track your results, and then decide if blogging is something you want to continue with.
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