You’ll discover more about the advantages of starting a small company blog, making practical business objectives for it, and even writing suggestions in this post.
You’ve probably heard about the advantages of launching a small company blog if you’re like a lot of conventional small business owners.
You may have heard that it aids in the internet discovery of your website, allowing potential consumers to locate you. This is true with the appropriate attitude. A blog also provides you with content to publish on social networking, and it’s even a worthy cause to send an email to your clients.
Whether you manage an antique or a cheese shop, a small business blog will help your business expand.
It’s one of the most effective investments you can make in your internet presence. It’s significantly less expensive to start and run than traditional advertising such as magazine advertisements, postcards, and fliers. Those items are discarded and forgotten, but a regularly updated blog may continue to attract clients for years.
Check out these numbers:
- Businesses that blog receive 55 per cent more internet traffic than those that do not. (Image courtesy of Hubspot)
- Blogs are read by 409 million people every month, according to WordPress. (Image courtesy of Forbes)
- According to reports, 6 out of 10 buyers have purchased due to a blog suggestion. (Photo courtesy of Huffington Post)
Imagine your small company ranking first in your town’s search engines, bringing in more consumers. With an active blog, it’s highly doable.
A Small Business Blog Has 4 Business Advantages
Blogging not only improves your web presence but also allows you to demonstrate your expertise.
Consider the following scenario: a potential consumer searches for what you sell, and your relevant blog article appears, which they read. Now that you’ve established yourself as an authority, they’ll be more inclined to seek out your store when they’re ready to buy.
For a tiny business, this is the power of blogging.
Let’s take it a step further and dissect it.
1. Increase the number of visitors to your website
Magnet in one’s hand. People attracted to the attraction are cut-outs from paper.
Google adores fresh content. And there’s no better way to keep it current than by adding new blog posts.
When you publish a new post, you effectively “ping” the internet, notifying people that further information is available. Google’s web crawlers will visit your website due to your move.
Crawlers take notice of your material and “index” it. The entire system is built on a complicated mathematical procedure, but that’s the gist of it.
Then, when potential visitors in your region use the internet to ask similar inquiries, your blog article has a chance to come up first.
For example, if you own a cheese speciality store and create a blog post on your favourite French cheeses, your customers will be able to locate your blog post when they search for French cheeses in your area.
2. It provides you with content to post on social media.
You’re probably on Facebook and Instagram, and you’re aware of the importance of posting regularly. This is what keeps people coming back to your social media pages.
You’ll have something else to share once you’ve created new blog material. You may also take quotes from the article and share them. A blog, in other words, may work hard for you.
3. Provides a reason for you to email your customers
Sending a link to your blog article via email marketing is a terrific approach to attract back old and current clients.
Consider sending a link to your email list when you’ve published a piece. This will attract a certain number of consumers back to your website.
Alternatively, you may include all of the most recent blog articles in your email, as Food52 does in this example:
Food52’s contemporary blog pieces are included in their newsletter.
4. Gives your customers something of value
“What should I write about?” is a question many business owners ask.
Fortunately, your clients will inform you. Start by addressing their queries, and you’ll have the foundation for a helpful and fascinating blog.
Writing blog entries allows you to share your expertise with individuals who want to learn from you in a written format.
Marcus Sheridan’s pool company appeared doomed when the economy collapsed in 2008. He turned to the internet with a tiny advertising budget and produced dozens of postings answering customers’ pool-related questions. They were ranked first for swimming pools a year later.
Although online competition is fiercer these days, blogging remains one of the most effective methods for small businesses to differentiate themselves.
I’ll give some suggestions for building a content plan for your blog in a moment, but first, let’s go over the basics of beginning a blog on your existing website.
What Is the Best Way to Begin a Blog on Your Existing Website?
A screenshot of the WordPress dashboard showing how to make blog articles on the platform.
Fortunately, setting up a blog on your existing website is generally as simple as “enabling” the blog option. Whether you’re building a website with WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, or another platform, all of them now have a blog feature.
The mechanics for each, however, are slightly different. Logging in to your website and reviewing the dashboard is the best place to start.
If you see the words “blog” or “posts,” you may want to go there to write a new blog post. If you don’t know where you can publish a blog post straight immediately, you might want to call tech support for assistance.
A brief email should lead you to the following stages if a web developer builds your site.
After you’ve enabled the blog component, you’ll need to choose blog subjects and define some goals for your blog.
Make a list of your blogging objectives.
“To increase sales,” for example, could be your initial thinking. However, that is a little wide. Let’s narrow our focus, which will also help us decide what to blog about.
Let’s start with your blogging objectives. Your blog might be your customer’s first point of contact with you, so you want to make a solid first impression. When visitors walk into your business, how do you welcome them? Are you kind and warm? Then, with your blog, adopt that tone.
Who are your clients? A high-end art gallery will have a different population than a neighbourhood ice cream business. Who are the people who buy your product or service, and what do they want to know?
Do your competitors have a blog? If that’s the case, what kinds of topics do they cover? Make a list.
A blog post can be entertaining, informative, or humorous, but it is not intended to be a sales pitch. You’ll be more effective if you keep it focused on your clients and their questions.
Will any of your staff be interested in blogging, if you have any? If you commit to one blog post per month and three workers each produce one blog post per month, you’ll have a weekly post with a minimal commitment from each individual.
Who will be in charge of editing, formatting, and pressing the “publish” button on the posts?
This provides the framework for leveraging your blog to attract clients successfully.
Make a Content Marketing Plan for Your Small Business Blog
Woman gazing up from her laptop, pondering.
As a significant aspect of your online presence, your blog demands some strategic consideration. I previously highlighted a swimming pool firm that could salvage its business by using good blogging.
They were consistent and had a strategy, which is one of the reasons it succeeded. It was plenty, even if the objective was to “address every query pool consumers” had. What if you tried something similar?
You can do the following:
- Make a list of all the inquiries you receive from consumers.
- Then make a list of the questions you’d like them to ask, but they don’t.
- To develop new ideas, use a programme like Answer the Public.
- If you’re acquainted with Google Ads, you can use Google Keyword Planner to conduct basic keyword research to see how frequently people search for a specific phrase.
- Enter your question into Google and go through the drop-down boxes to see what relevant searches appear. On the results page, you can also see a list of questions.
Examine trade publications to see the current trends in your business and how they affect your clients. What are the latest trends, for example, if you sell wine? You may make a blog article about them.
You should have a long list of prospective blog subjects by now. Concentrate on producing 400-word pieces that are both engaging and instructive. However, it’s much better if you can write lengthier articles. Statistics reveal that blogs with more than 1500 words do well because they provide in-depth coverage of the issue.
The actual key, though, is your local community. If you’re like most small firms, your critical consumers are those within a short driving distance. Your website will increase in the search engines and attract new clients if you follow these principles and blog regularly.