Let's just say it right at the start: Blogging can be a powerful marketing tactic.
However, the truth is far more than that because business blogging is far more than a tactic. It is a key communication channel for your brand.
It is a forum for informing, educating, and inspiring your audience. It can build brand awareness and deepen customer loyalty. And it can help establish your business, your brand, as an authority in your field or niche.
More Than Another Content Medium
The versatile and multi-faceted nature of a business blog is what makes it such a critical and powerful part of your overall content and inbound marketing strategy.
And, yes, it works great for driving traffic to your website.
While we can easily argue that, from a purely marketing stance, this is the primary purpose of a business blog. This is not to say that established brands cannot have blogs that are largely for their existing base of clients or customers. They can and they do. And blogs can be designed to publish news items and time-sensitive updates.
However, for most small businesses - established and otherwise - their blog exists primarily to be found online by search engines in response to a search query. In other words, when someone is looking for an answer to a question, a solution to a problem, or information that they need, if it's in your "wheelhouse" you want your site to be the result they are given.
And relevant, informative, authoritative, and good quality blog posts can make that happen.
In fact, here are just a few good reasons to include blogging in your content strategy (Storychief.io):
- You'll generate 3x more leads via blogs than through ads
- Blogging is perfect for SEO
- Blogging provides 4x the likelihood of being found in organic search
- 52% of marketers agree that blogging is the most critical marketing tactic
- Blogging magnifies your brand
- Blogging showcases your WHY
- Google likes blogging as a content marketing strategy
Oh, and did we mention driving traffic to your website through organic search?
Keeping the Traffic Moving
Keep in mind that traffic for traffic's sake is not beneficial. Having 100,000 site visits via your blog post without a single inquiry or lead coming from them is analogous to having 1,000 people read the menu on your restaurant door but never come inside.
Website visits from people who need what you do or what you sell is the goal of blogging traffic.
While most people understand what website traffic is, not all traffic is the same. Strictly speaking, website traffic is determined by the number of visitors and the number of pages they visit.
Without those visitors going further into your website and learning who and what your business is, they represent nothing more than window shoppers. You want them to be so intrigued or impressed by the content of the blog post they've gone to that they will "hang around" on your website for a while.
So, how do you make that happen?
The Two Main Keys to Blogging Success
Okay, there are more than two keys, but without these primary considerations the rest don't much matter. Simply put, it comes down to Frequency and Content.
Frequency
How many blog posts should a small business publish each month to successfully drive traffic and show up in organic search results? It depends. Some established businesses with a robust social media presence and other content marketing channels such as email marketing can publish once a month and see results.
However, most businesses should consider a minimum of two or three posts a month or, better yet, once or even twice a week. The total number of posts within a specific period of time combined with a growing archive of quality content creates a synergistic effect on search engine results.
So, what does that mean for determining your optimum blogging frequency? If daily blog posts aren't necessary or even recommended for most businesses, does that mean blogging once a week? Can you publish once or twice a month and still see resulting traffic?
Yes, you can. But keep in mind that creating consistent, engaging, and high-quality content should be your number one priority, not worrying about volume or frequency. And this is something that most small businesses struggle with.
Content
In this context, we use the term "content" to refer specifically to what is in your blog posts. And this matters on two fronts: quality and length.
Without quality content the labor is all for naught. And quality entails both relevance and substance.
Google wants to direct people to websites that solve problems. To that end, according to Blog Tyrant,
"This particular update [Hummingbird] changed the way Google looked at searches so they no longer emphasize keywords but instead look at the intention behind the search. For example, people searching for 'acid reflux' might really be looking for 'why do I have acid reflux?', 'what drugs treat acid reflux?', etc."
In addition to the relevance, intent, and substance of the content, fresh content is something that Google looks for. And blog posts are perfect for that. In 2011 Google implemented a freshness update that became part of Google's search algorithm. This update was aimed to give a fresher content a more prominent edge in rankings, especially for content where freshness is important.
But keep in mind that "freshness" comes in different packages.
According to Brain Dean, leading SEO expert.
“Although Google prefers fresh content, an older page that’s regularly updated may outperform a newer page.”
Another reason why building a stockpile of blog post content is valuable.
Your Business Blogging Strategy Partners
An additional tactic for creating and publishing and effective business blog is to get outside help. A digital marketing agency such as BroadVision Marketing can offer expertise and tools that the typical business owner or marketing manager may not have.
In addition, it often helps to have a professional marketer's perspective to assess your content marketing strategy. Acquiring the insights of a third-party professional is an investment that can bring a quantifiable return.
BroadVision Marketing offers all this and more. Get your Free Complimentary Inbound Marketing Session to help you make an informed decision or call BroadVision Marketing at 707-799-1238.
