Do I need a blog for business and how to get the most out of it

Blog for business. Trends for the next few years

The modern world is literally obsessed with a beautiful picture, because visual solutions in marketing remain very relevant. Video content continues to increase its popularity. But do not write off traditional blogging, it is also necessary, especially in the commercial sphere.

Perhaps you are just starting to develop your website or are looking to expand your business. In any case, blogging should remain a mandatory component of your content strategy. A blog for business allows you to get a wide list of advantages.

The first thing for which almost all companies continue to blog is search engine promotion. The constant addition of high-quality content significantly increases the position in the output of popular search engines.

In addition, the inclusion of a blog in content marketing increases the chances of attracting potential customers. There are many other reasons for active work in this direction:

• The publication of useful materials increases the engagement and trust of the audience;
• A company that runs a blog stands out from the crowd, a special “brand voice” appears;
• With the help of content, the company can communicate with customers;
• Blog is an important element of working in social networks;
• Blog sales are much more effective than advertising.

We have figured out the main advantages, now we can talk about what will be relevant in this area in the next few years, which blogging tactics and techniques give the best results.

Advantages from the point of view of marketing

A blog for business is one of the tools that allows you to give customers additional value, which helps to increase sales.

The success of a blog in the commercial sector is based on three main “whales”: practical benefits, quality of materials, relevance (compliance) with people’s needs. This is how the company’s credibility on the Internet is formed. If you publish valuable information that is interesting to your audience, you will be able to answer relevant questions, show yourself an expert in the industry, you will gain the trust of customers. And, therefore, sales.

Why be an industry expert

If you sell goods or services, show the audience that you are well versed in your business. They will turn to you for advice, trust your judgment and rely on your choice. It goes without saying that sales will grow as a result.

Well, from whom is it better to buy a product in which a person does not understand anything, or order a service? From a seller that no one knows, or from an obvious specialist in his industry? Share your knowledge, such generosity will give you customer loyalty. And it always pays off.

Online presence

When answering the question why a blog is needed for business, many marketers talk about recognition. And this is also the right answer.

Your activity on social networks, new blog articles and, as a result, in newsletters and RSS feeds remind regular customers about you, and allow new people to get acquainted with your brand. Be more active online – as soon as you shut up, the company will start to be forgotten.

It is important not only to sell, but also to help customers with advice, to acquaint them with the specifics of your field of activity, new products, services, etc.

Subscriptions and mailing lists

In order to study your customers, establish interaction with them, conduct after–sales work, subscriptions are one of the best options. You will be able to notify people about your news, increase their activity during some promotions and sales, increase attendance and much more.

But how to collect a database of email addresses that are also loyal enough so that they do not unsubscribe when they receive the first email that is not directly related to sales? The easiest way to do this is on the blog page. Here subscribers will definitely be loyal, and your materials will be read.

In the case of attempts to send emails based on the email collected from the “shopping cart”, the loyalty of readers will be significantly lower. Someone will be interested in articles. Most people will normally accept notifications about discounts and promotions, but they will not understand the constant newsletter, and they will simply unsubscribe. It’s even more difficult if you offer people to subscribe to some newsletter on the main page of the site. Most likely, no one will be interested in it at all.

Search engine promotion and attendance

Search engine promotion is a long–term strategy and constant work. To the company learned new visitors from search requires the presence of the website on the first page of Google or Yandex. Users are lazy, and few people scroll through the search. Therefore, only in this case you will get the maximum result.

And here a blog for business comes to the rescue. The site is constantly updated, new content appears. This is “loved” by search bots and such resources are gradually promoted to the TOP. Of course, this method will work only if your content is really high-quality, properly structured and contains a competently assembled semantic core.

The higher the site is in the search results, the more thematic queries search engines will find on your project, the more visitors you will receive. People will start reading your blog, it will have a positive effect on traffic. And then it all depends on your goals and ability to attract customers. Some will remain readers, others will become customers.

Lead generation

Collecting email addresses of visitors by subscribing to interesting articles is one of the methods of increasing sales. It is easier to transfer a person from interested readers to the category of buyers than in the variant, for example, “cold calling”.

Companies often collect such addresses through feedback forms. Any interest in the company’s activities is a potential client, i.e. a lead. It remains only to identify his interests and gradually lead to the purchase.

By the way, you can conduct sales in a blog, i.e. advertise your products or services in useful articles, and immediately give a link to the desired page of the site. This method helps to get not just leads, but real customers without marketing efforts.

Linking

One of the advantages of the blog is the possibility of internal linking. But no one has canceled external links yet. Add links to your blog or website pages on third-party resources, do not be afraid to use backlinks to resources where you are hosted yourself. Now external linking is still useful both for promotion and for increasing attendance. The main thing is to share really useful content with each other and not get carried away with not the best quality links.

What techniques and methods to use in blogging

Now let’s move on to the methods that will help achieve the goals described above. Modern blogging is not as easy as it may seem.

Content plan

The calendar plan of publications will allow you to plan the placement of content and think in advance about what you will write about. It is compiled for any convenient period – a month, six months, a year, etc. It contains the most important thing – the subject and approximate dates of publications.

Then you can create content at a convenient time, but at the same time you will be able to avoid a chaotic accumulation of information. Without a plan, blogs often turn into a “dump”, where articles are periodically published almost in batches, on a variety of topics, and then all activity stops, since the author does not know what else to write about.

For more convenience, you can use publication planning. This feature is implemented in most CMS. But if you don’t have it on your site, look for a convenient external platform, there are a lot of them now.

How additional value is created

High-quality and useful content in itself is a separate value. If the company creates it regularly, then there is an additional value that allows you to attract customers and expand conversion rates, lead generation, i.e., in fact, increase profits.

A blog for business is an ideal tool for posting valuable content. Even if your budget is extremely limited, and there is not enough time, you can still use this tool quite successfully. Even not too frequent, but really useful publications will attract readers and increase the level of trust in you and your business. Potential clients will ask questions, consult on topics where you have shown expertise. And then to convert interested people into buyers is quite a real thing.

Quality and quality again

Blogging is, first of all, content. Its quality directly depends on whether people will read the posted texts, and search engines will index them. If your texts are difficult to read, they are written illiterate or placed in the form of an inconvenient “sheet” for perception, people will simply leave the site. You will lose potential subscribers, and search bots will record “refusals” and reduce the position of the project in the search results.

Therefore, be very attentive both to the texts and graphics themselves, and to the correctness of their display. Before writing an article, check how relevant the chosen topic is for your audience. Be sure to correct possible errors before publishing, do not forget about filling in SEO tags and optimizing graphics.

Visualization in the blog

One of the reasons why a blog is needed in a business environment is the formation of a brand voice. Here you will be able to cover important issues for your clients, give useful information. And one of the forms of submission that is very convenient for people is visualization.

Even the most useful text without illustrations or infographics makes less impression. Use screenshots, graphs, photos. In cases where it is useful for understanding the essence of the issue, add GIF animation and video.

Visual diagrams help to better understand the essence of the issue, and the videos perfectly complement any instructions and advice from specialists.

Communicate with the audience

Modern users appreciate personalization and feedback. If you answer questions, listen to your audience and help people solve their problems, the probability of getting subscribers and buyers will increase markedly.

In blogs, customers can write comments, leave reviews and share their impressions. This is a great way to learn more about your audience. Invite people to a dialogue, ask them questions, offer to tell them in the comments what they liked or not in the article, product or service. Communicate with people as much as possible!

Users will see that the blog is run by a real person, that their questions are important for your company. As a result, the number of readers will increase, and the level of trust in the company itself will increase.

Content needs to be promoted

There are many ways to promote your content. If you actively and resourcefully apply them, the number of subscribers and potential buyers will increase markedly.

What can I do:

• Write announcements of new articles in social networks with a link to the blog.
• Promote new publications using mailing lists.
• Collaborate with other bloggers and experts.

Invite interesting authors to your blog, exchange publications with other bloggers. Mutual PR will only benefit you. Print yourself in various publications, where you will be presented as an invited expert. There are many options – use them as widely as possible.

Sales funnel

Gather subscribers’ contacts into groups, interact with them, taking into account their interests, try to establish a stronger connection. This is well helped by the mailing list, individualized taking into account the group of subscribers and other methods of working with the sales funnel.

Calls to action

Probably, you have repeatedly placed buttons with various calls to action in newsletters, landing pages, and even in social networks that allow such a variant of content design. And why not use this tool in a blog?

Here you can successfully, and very unobtrusively, advertise various products and services. For example, the article will tell you about the advantages of a particular product, help you compare their features. And the buttons will become a noticeable and quick way to go to the purchase page. It is convenient and effective.

Why you need a blog: results

A blog for business is a powerful tool that helps to increase sales and overtake competitors. As you can see, there are many ways to use it. The main thing is not to stop at one thing. Your blog can become both an effective promotion tool, a platform for getting leads, and even an assistant in direct sales.

But do not forget about the most important thing – the content must be of high quality, and the advertising of goods or services unobtrusive. And, of course, be sure to communicate with visitors. Now you know what to do and how to do it. Good luck!