Does Your Business Really Need To Be Blogging?

The short answer to the question posed in the subject of this post is – Yes! But for the busy small business owner what are the benefits and why should you be blogging?

I have talked in a number of posts about branding your business and a blog is a great way to keep on building your brand online.

For those who are not technically minded you might want to talk to the people who put together your website about how you set a blog up. However, let’s focus here on what benefits blogging can bring.

Even if you don’t consider yourself a writer or blogger, it’s a great idea because your business blog offers another touch point with your customers. It’s easy to do and there are several good reasons you should do it.

A More Personal Connection

Like the various forms of social media, your blog gives you a chance to connect with your customers on a more personal level. While your business website tells them about your business and perhaps (hopefully!) allows them to buy from you, your blog is interactive. It’s a way to start a conversation where your customers and potential customers can leave comments and get to know you better. Like Twitter Your blog gives your business a human face. Make sure that you use it that way and reply to each comment your readers leave.

Expertise and Credibility

One of the best things about a business blog is that it gives you an opportunity to establish your expertise and build your reputation. You can blog about things you know. For example, if you’re a law firm, blog about simple legal questions people have. If you’re a cleaning company, share some easy house cleaning tips. Your blog shows your website visitors what you know and this helps to engenders trust in your business.

Customised Marketing

Blogging offers a much more effective and lower cost way to promote your business than other methods. If you want to place advertisements on other sites, this costs a bit of money. Other costly methods don’t make the same kind of impact that a blog written by you makes. You also get information on your target market through their reading behavior and comments.

Search Engine Benefits

Adding a blog to your business website is a great way to attract traffic from search engines. The search engines favor sites that have fresh, updated content. If you write just one blog post per week, you’ll see more searches coming your way, especially if you choose a few good keywords for each post. Try and write one or two blog posts a week and you’ll really see your traffic start to climb.

Visibility for Your Products and Services

Through your blog, you can tell your customers about your products and services. Let them know about discounts, special offers specifically for readers of your blog, new items and offline events that you’re participating in. You can also add a feed to your social media sites so that every blog you post shows up there as well.

Now, if the idea of writing grips you with fear, don’t despair. Blogging isn’t like writing the next bestselling novel. Focus on the wants, needs, interests and questions of your customers. Write short, conversational posts as if you’re speaking directly to them. You probably have a good idea what your business audience is – so imaging you are talking to one of them when you write your post. But do make sure you check your spelling! Choose something related to your business and share your expertise with them. Your business blog doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel; it just needs to be helpful and engaging.

Watch out for coming posts offering more advice on how to successfully develop your blog. In the meantime do you need to talk to your website people about setting up a blog? Or can you sort that for yourself?