The benefits of using a blog as part of your marketing strategy
Blogging, with the blog attached to the business or company website, is an important aspect of the online marketing strategy of many businesses.
Here are some of the reasons why.
A blog can attract visitors to your website – and keep them there awhile
If your business has a blog, many people visiting your website will check out your blog to see if it’s interesting. Alternatively, they may come across one of your blog articles on social media and check it out which will take them automatically to your website.
An uninteresting blog will turn your visitors away quickly so it’s important to make those blog articles clear and interesting. If your visitors think your blog is interesting, they will stay awhile reading different articles, and maybe even share them.
The longer your visitors stay in your blog, reading articles, the more ‘popular’ your site/blog will appear to Google or other search engines, and the higher your website will be raised in the search rankings. And we all know that websites that pop up in the top of the search engine lists are more likely to be visited and chosen than those that are so far down the list they never get seen. If your articles are shared, this will indicate to Google that they must be interesting and worth reading, so Google will raise your rankings in order to direct more people to your blog.
And we all know that higher rankings by the search engines lead to more people discovering your business.
A blog can showcase you and your business
The articles in your blog give these potential customers a good idea of what sorts of things you and your business are interested in, and how much you know. They are a good place to showcase your expertise in your areas of specialty. Unlike your website, there is plenty of room in a blog – you can write as many articles as you like, each focused on the subject of its title. Blogs are a good way for customers to find specific information, or to browse your list of titles to find an article that most interests them.
For example, my blog includes a range of articles about different aspects of editing and self-publishing, as well as some other subjects. I only write about subjects that I know really well, and the articles are evidence that I certainly know my stuff. So if a potential client pops into my blog and sees all those articles, they’ll not only benefit from the information in the blog; they’ll also realise I know what I’m talking about, and be more likely to contact me for editing services.
If honesty and professionalism is part of your business brand, a blog in addition to your website can really showcase that.
Other benefits
There are a lot of other reasons why you should use a blog as part of your business’s marketing strategy. Stay posted for my next articles on the benefits of blogging as a marketing tool.
For more information about blogging and how to do it well, go to:
- How to get more bang for your blog-writing buck
- How blogging (and social media) can help your business
Sally-Anne Kane is running a workshop about how to create/maintain a blog as part of your marketing strategy. For details about this workshop go to: Blogging as a business tool – or visit the events page here on Gippsland Business Connect.
Sally-Anne Watson Kane
Writer, editor, proofreader, owner/operator - On Time Typing, Editing and Proofreading
Sally-Anne Watson Kane owns and operates On Time Typing, Editing and Proofreading (established as 'On Time Typing' in 2002) and Peewee Press (since 2003). Sally-Anne is a professional editor and full member of Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) Australia, based in Moe, Gippsland.
Our services: typing, scribing, report writing, minute-taking, transcription, copy writing, editing, proofreading, graphic design, and self-publishing.
Sally-Anne manages an Australian-based team of eleven typists, scribes, transcriptionists, writers and editors (all subcontractors) including typists in Gippsland as well as typists, editors and scribes in Melbourne, Central Victoria and interstate.
Sally-Anne is a professional member of Institute of Professional Editors and Editors Victoria, and a full member of Life Stories Australia.
Sally-Anne regularly writes articles about sole trader and small business management, writing and editing, self-publishing, and contemporary issues in Australia, across a variety of platforms.
Sally-Anne has 25 years' experience in:
- editing and proofreading publications, websites, policies and reports.
- audio transcription (dictation, transcripts of interviews, focus groups, investigations, hearings).
- recording, transcribing, compiling and self-publishing oral histories and anthologies.
- writing articles, websites, reports and publications
- scribing and writing selection, procurement and referee reports
- scribing, writing and editing self-published memoirs and life stories
- providing self-publishing services to authors, businesses and organisations from handwritten manuscript through to printed book stage, including: project planning, budget, typing, editing, proofreading, graphic design, printer quotes and liaison. We specialise in producing memoirs and life stories, local histories, and minority voices.