By Lasitha Raj
We all, more or less agree to the old adage “Change is the only constant.” Yet, in this dynamic world of web, we have come to witness that each day. With changing technology and resources, content on the web has also become dynamic and variant. As a user, it is difficult to stay loyal to a particular website unless it is a popular one.
Given this, every company (big or small), entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and the like, all understand that having a website is just not enough. With more than a billion websites on the worldwide web, a website cannot bring visitors by itself. And unless you have visitors on your website, you might not be able to showcase the services that you offer. Often, prospective customers are gained when they embark upon services which they find are useful for them. Unless your website is frequently updated and active, visitors or perhaps prospective customers would not find their way to your website.
Evolution in showcasing the website and to bring it to the fore led to the creation of blogs within the website. Blogging is one of the effective options available to keep the website active. Customer behavior has been changing and research shows that majority of the buyers are visiting blogs/forums before buying a product or availing a service.
What is Blogging?
Blogging means publishing articles, which are relevant to the services you provide or the products you sell, on your website on a frequent basis. The articles, as mentioned, should focus on the business offerings, industry in which the business operates and updates related to the industry or company. A blog is a medium for sharing of knowledge/best practices, “How to” related to products/services and so on.
The number of blogs per month and the frequency with which they have to be published differ based on the business model (B2B or B2C) of the company. The business strategy of the company should also be considered while deciding the same.
Post publication of the article, it is important to promote the article with your peers, followers, business partners, like-minded groups etc. so that the readers get the value from your article. A blog is a two-way communication; it encourages interaction via comments and feedback.
There are many reasons why blogging is important for any business. However the five reasons listed below are the most important ones:
a) Improve visibility
Invite visitors to your website By writing relevant content for your target audience, you can attract visitors to your website. Marketing of the article in various social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn), social book marking sites (Reditt, StumbleUpon and Digg) and forums in which your business is active is key to ensure visibility of the blog. Content is King and this applies to a blog as well. The quality of your content will impact visitors. An impactful blog with impeccable word power will ensure that the visitors sign up for your blog posts. Blogs creates an impression on the visitor and if your content is helpful, they will share it with others.
b) Cost-effective
Blogging is one of the cost-effective content marketing strategy. Every blog is your asset as it stays as long as your business is active. It is a one-time effort but the benefits are huge. If the article is on a general topic which are evergreen (eg: Benefits of Outsourcing), you will get more benefits as the meaning of these topics are not going to change. On the contrary, if the article is on a specific topic (Tax slab rate for the financial year 2016), the content is relevant to the year 2016 and not beyond that.
c) Branding and Thought Leadership
The quality of content and ideas expressed in your blogs will become the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) for building your brand and promoting you as a ‘Thought Leader’ in your respective field. With a good number of blogs in your website and with the help of social networking sites, you will eventually have a list of followers which is only going to increase over the years. These blogs are the ambassadors of your brand and the thoughts/ideas which you share and preach. All this will help you to attract more customers.
d) Engaging your customers
Your blog is the platform where you meet new visitors who are your potential customers and connect with existing customers also. Regular interaction through blogs helps in building a stronger relationship with the customer. Pain points of your customers/ Requirement of your customer which you have highlighted in your blog invokes the interest in your visitor to know more about it and this will lead to a discussion.
A blog gives you an opportunity to understand your customer requirements better and provide solutions which makes it a win-win situation. In an indirect way, it also helps in translating a visitor into a customer who is in need of a similar product or service. Today’s age is an age of engagement, you have to keep talking to every stakeholder around you in order to improve your services and identify new business opportunities from your existing customers.
e) Improves SEO
Search engines are always on the lookout of fresh content. There is no better way to keep feeding fresh content into the web than a blog. Frequent blogs will provide the required fodder to search engines which will identify your website as a credible one. Including keywords, article topics, businesses, product or service which you want to showcase and get identified by search engines in the blog, will serve the purpose of bringing new visitors to the website.
Blogging is an integral content marketing strategy for each and every business. It is one of the cost-effective marketing tool for your business.
