When you’re just starting your new business there’s a lot to think about.
This, of course, is an understatement of a level similar to “putting a basking shark in a Nissan Micra is a wee bit tricksy.”
Your head is full of thoughts around developing your product or service, working out pricing, registering your company, logo, branding, website, social, images, wording, actually FINDING some customers, and… well. We could go on for a while. The point is, there’s lots to do, and the idea of sitting down once a week and writing about it just seems like too much to ask, especially if you’re no Shakespeare.
However, we’re here to tell you that that blank space in the forgotten corner if your website is absolutely full of opportunities.
The benefits of blogging
Writing a blog can be an extremely powerful tool for your business. Here are 7 reasons why:
1. Oooh, friends!
Your blog can help you build relationships with customers and potential customers. By writing about your business and sharing your knowledge, basic human psychology means you’ll create a connection with people who will begin to know, like and trust you, making them much more likely to buy.
2. Juicy, juicy, SEO juice
You might have done some keyword research before writing your website content (if not, it’s not too late!). If so, you probably found yourself with a list of keywords longer than a horse’s face. You won’t be able to use all of them in your website copy, and nor should you try. That’s a recipe for a keyword-stuffed disaster.
What you could do, however, is keep that long list and all the topics around them for your blog. That way you’re giving context to the search terms and making it much more likely you’ll be found by search engines.
3. Social
Social media is a wonderful way to get your brand in front of your ideal customer, but what then? You can post links to buy your product, but it’s clear that while people want to buy, they’re not keen on the feeling of being sold to. If your strategy is to help them find you, what better way than to share snippets of your blog post and invite them to find out more?
4. Share the detail
You can talk about your service in detail. Customers rarely buy a product, they buy a solution to their problem.
Your blog is the perfect place to talk in detail about how what you’re selling will improve your customers’ lives. That might be how your gym membership will give them more confidence, or how your sound-muffling duck shoes will stop their pets from driving them crazy with the constant slap-slap-slapping. Although why you’d want to do that is a mystery. Free the ducks! If you don’t like a bit of slapping, don’t buy a duck – that’s our advice.
There might not be space to include every benefit on your sales page, but your blog is as roomy as it gets.
5. Topple problems like dominoes
Is there a common reason that people choose not to buy what you’re selling? They usually boil down to the following:
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Value: “I’m not sure it’s worth it!”
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Difficulty: “Sounds too tricky!”
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Achievability: “How do I know this will work for me, specifically?”
Tackling these problems head-on, in blog form, can help you turn those resistances into selling points.
6. It shows you’re still in business
What do you do if you stumble upon an alarmingly old ecommerce website? One that looks like it belongs on Geocities, with its most recent blog post from 2018? Carefully enter your card details and hope for the best? Probably not. You, like every other sensible person, would hot-foot it straight out of there and try somewhere else.
Posting articles regularly tells visitors (and Google) that you’re still around, working hard, and are very unlikely to take their money and set sail to Panama.
7. Spread that knowledge around
You spend all day, every day doing what you do. Believe it or not, you know an awful lot about it. Your blog is your chance to really delve into your ideas, experiences, and amusing anecdotes. The more you share with the world, the sooner your brand will come to mind when they need what you offer.
So, there you have it. There are many reasons why writing a blog for your business should be something of value rather than just another job. A blog can help you build relationships with your customers, improve your Search Engine Optimisation, attract new customers and establish yourself as an industry expert. It can also help to drive traffic to your site and generate leads for your business.
If you’re not already blogging for your business, now’s the time to start. And if you really can’t bring yourself to get writing, WordHound can do it all for you with our monthly blog packages.
