If you have a blog and don’t keep it up your website looks stale. Isn’t it easier to just skip blogging altogether? Well sure. But, you lose a valuable way to reach more customers and keep your current ones coming back for more.
Here are five compelling reasons why a blog is worth your time:
1. Your competitors DON’T have blogs
It’s true! Many of the top industrial companies don't have blogs, although the B2B segment represents the fastest growing blog adopters. If you get in early you can own this space before your competition does. It’s a great opportunity to take the lead.
Blogs are also strong lead generators. The math is simple: B2B companies with blogs get more leads than those that don’t. Because of this key metric, 65% of marketers planned to increase their use of blogs.
2. Blogging cranks up your search rankings
A blog increases your search rankings -- its keyword rich and links to other information. These two key elements are highly sought after by search engines. The more your site acts as a helpful resource, the more likely the search engines are to recognize that and index your pages. Websites that include blogs have up to 434% more indexed pages and 97% more links to their site than those without. That’s a huge leg up.
Additionally, outside websites look for sites with quality blog posts -- when a respected website links to your blog post your entire site receives a boost! Which leads us to the next point…
3. Blogs position you as a trusted quality resource
Blogs are a smart way to disseminate information and build a reputation as a trusted source of valuable insights — a true thought leader. You can educate current and future customers about your products and services and discuss other important industry-related topics. Consumers now rank blogs as the fifth most trusted source for accurate online information. Once you’ve been identified as a thought leader, people will want to share your content.
4. Blogs are chum for social media
Links to your blog are an easy, powerful way to draw prospects in from social media. Blogs are imminently shareable, so they can get you superpower reach. They’re a great way to generate traffic from social media as well as build your brand personality.
5. Blogs generate better ROI than other lead gen tactics
Marketers who prioritize blogging are 13x more likely to achieve a positive ROI on their efforts. More than half of surveyed marketers say blogging is their top content marketing priority; B2B marketers with blogs report 67% more leads than those without blogs. When it comes to effort and cost, blogging packs a powerful ROI. It’s also a more long-term content delivery vehicle, since it lives on your website and is easily shared. Typically, blog content is more timeless, whereas ads and other content types have much shorter shelf lives.
Best Blogging Practices
When you’re ready to get blogging, here are some recent best practices for blogs:
- Keep your frequency to weekly or bi-weekly. This way you can keep the dialogue going and build your brand, as well as increase traffic to your site. You won’t overwhelm readers with information and, conversely, you won’t have them wondering if you’re still active.
- Up your word count. Search engines tend to rank longer pieces higher; the average word count of top-ranking content (in Google) is in the 1,140-1,285 word range.
- Make your blogs skimmable with eye-catching headlines, bullets, and short videos. In fact, if you include images, you’ll increase your views by 94%.
- Consider paid tactics to drive traffic. Bloggers are increasing their use of promotional techniques that drive traffic to their posts -- over the last year, the use of paid ads increased by 93%.
- Share on social media. There’s no better way to amplify your company's message and it’s free!
- Consider welcoming guest editors. This is a great (and cost-effective) tactic that offers a fresh perspective and increases the value you offer readers.
- Include a call-to-action at the end. Build on the momentum of an interested lead and help your readers reach out to you instantly.
Related — Manufacturer's Guide: Creating Your First Buyer Personas
If you’re reading this post you already know the power of blogs. Now, it's time to get started! Commit to a small investment of a bi-weekly blogging schedule, so you can leverage this cost-effective and just plain effective marketing tool.
If you need help with your blog just give us a call. We have extensive experience creating blogs that drive business to our customers’ sites and build their thought leader status. And we have a lot of fun doing it! Contact us today to find out how easy it is to get your blog up and running.