Why You Need A Blog To Connect With Your Customers
After my previous blog (6 Essential Tools You Need In Your Marketing Toolbox) I received a lot of questions about the individual tools and 80% of the questions were about blogging. Therefore, I decided to delve a little deeper and give you an understanding of why it is such a crucial tool!
Even if you happen to live under a rock, you would’ve heard by now that content really is King! Content is not a new concept, but it is increasingly working its way to the forefront of all digital marketing strategies. It is finally being recognised as a crucial element that reaps big rewards.
Content comes in many forms but blogging is the cornerstone of content marketing! It is the ‘magic pill’ that can open your business up to new opportunities almost immediately.
Why is blogging so important?
You’re probably thinking that there any so many other areas of your business that need the prioritised attention, but I will have to disagree. Blogging gives you the opportunity to become a thought leader in your industry (and yes, it applies to every industry)!
When you focus on creating unique, high-quality and completely authentic content that is also entertaining, informational, interesting and most importantly, useful – you start to build a foundation of consumers that trust you. And we all know that consumer trust is the most important thing to attain.
It boosts engagement
When you publish a blog, it encourages users to engage with the brand, whether they’re aware of it or not. If the content is genuinely good, users will pause to consume the content, understand the brand message and perhaps even comment, like or share the piece. If you are providing your customers with valuable information, this adds value to your brand and it is extremely well received by your customers. The value doesn’t have have a direct monetary value, however, it is invaluable to your business and the relationship between your brand and your consumers. Informational blogs may not drive immediate conversions, they do however immensely improve brand awareness in a way that leads to conversions and loyalty later.
It’s great for SEO
To put it simply, a unique and original blog post (do not plagiarise, it will not work), consisting of 300-500 words, internal links to other relevant pieces and relevant keywords, will assist your website in ranking organically for relevant keywords and search terms. A higher ranking will ultimately expose your brand to more digital consumers searching for content in your industry.
In saying that, in order for your blogs to rank highly, they need to be optimised for SEO and this is where expertise comes in. It includes using keywords and phrases in your heading that people will actually search for. There is no use ranking for a phrase that nobody will search for! The phrases you use in your heading have to continue throughout your text. It’s all about relevance.
The easiest way to please Google is to aim to create the best possible page on the topic you’re writing about. Include images, quotes, infographics or statistics. Don’t fear that it’s too long as Google prefers pages with 1000+ words, and if they include your keywords and phrases, well then you’ve produced quality content that Google will prioritise.
Formatting matters as well! There is nothing worse than clicking through to a page with small headings, which looks like an overload of text and no images. That there is a recipe for a high bounce rate (this means the visitor immediately leaves your page). You want to keep them there with;
Short paragraphs
Concise writing
Sub-headings
Numbered or bullet points (see what I did there?)
Quotes from industry professionals
Relevant images
It generates new leads and sales
It does this by driving traffic to your website and keeping consumers on the site for longer. For example, if your website just had a homepage and contact page, it would receive much higher bounce rates, limited page views, and very little engagement. Whereas, if it had a blog packed full of engaging content, it would leave an impression on your consumers, encouraging them to interact with the site and visit multiple pages.
Blogging raises brand awareness and assists your brand in gaining authority in an already saturated market. This gives your brand great potential to generate new leads and increase sales as more consumers become exposed to your brand.
Your content should be less “salesy” and more educational. This gives consumers an opportunity to authentically engage with your brand without a blatant sales message disturbing the engagement. Pushing product-oriented content onto your consumers can have a negative effect on your relationship with them, whereas good editorial fosters the relationship as they move from consumer to customer to brand advocate.
I could probably write an entire book on why blogging is important for any business but I’ll save them for another time! If you would like to chat more about blogging for your business or if you would like to see me write about other topics, let’s chat via email – mina@minaimsi.com
Don’t forget that I can also give your business a FREE Digital Health Check, all you have to do is ask!