Businesses which regularly update their websites with unique, topical, authoritative business blog content will notice the search engine optimisation (SEO), brand awareness and sales benefits almost immediately.
Author and internet marketing consultant
Chris Garret says such content cannot be beaten when it comes to attracting links from other websites, forums, discussion lists and social networks.
"These links bring a quantity of attention, as well as quality, targeted visitors that turn into good leads," he observes.
In his latest guide to business blogging, Garret puts forward some of the main reasons every organisation needs a blog on its website. Below you can find out what they are, with a few extra points included from
Newsvend's own experts:
1. Direct traffic links – Valuable, authoritative website content attracts links which bring significant attention and high-quality, targeted visitors that become effective business leads.
2. Audience attraction - As well as generating website visitors, a good business blog will help retain traffic by building loyalty and persuading people to keep coming back. The average blog attracts 55% more visitors than a traditional website.
3. Audience interaction - With more people turning to the web to research before they buy, a business blog promotes customer confidence and loyalty. Furthermore, blog comments, feedback forms, surveys and polls become instant market research tools, letting a firm know which products it should focus on creating - and why.
4. Audience retention – In Garret's words, there's no need for "spammy, desperate-sounding sales messages" when a business blog holds prospects' interest for longer, persuades customers over time and brings them back over and over again.
5. Audience motivation – A website's loyal visitors will be motivated by the calls to action contained within high-quality, well-written, relevant copy.
6. SEO links – A website's search results and visitor numbers improve according to how linkable it is (and therefore how easy it is for search engines to index). Research shows the average blog gets indexed by search engines 434% more than traditional websites.
7. Trust and familiarity - Populating a website with compelling content and resources - and encouraging repeat communication - builds familiarity and nurtures visitors' trust (a vital ingredient for creating sales and leads).
8. Community growth – A sense of community arises as a consequence of audience discussions, interaction and comments. Businesses can then strengthen this sentiment on and offline.
9. Better customer service – Multiple options for audience communication and interaction make a business more approachable - and give rise to improved customer interaction.
10. Branding – A stronger brand will be the outcome of value-based customer experiences that create trust and promote word-of-mouth advertising.
11. Easier networking – The chances of a business finding ideally-suited employees and networking contacts are also boosted with a blog.
12. Effective public relations – In the social networking universe, bad stories spread rapidly. Having a business blog provides the opportunity to dampen negativity and communicate an organisation's own side of such stories.
13. Showcase business knowledge – A blog gives an organisation a platform to display its knowledge of the subjects that matter to its visitors. This valuable, topical content is transmitted quickly and effectively to a large audience.
14. Social media value – Syndicating blog posts to social media will open a business's website to even more traffic from portals like Twitter and Facebook.
15. Sales and lead generation – Contented and better-informed visitors add up to ongoing fresh – and repeat – sales and business leads.
