As consumers become more and more savvy about traditional advertising — and how to avoid it — content marketing continues to grow. With this growth, small-business owners should learn how to best market themselves and their businesses. This is where content marketing and blogging come in; a company blog is a great place to focus your marketing strategy.
Why does your business need a blog?
If you think of blogs as a form of online journaling, think again. Today, blogging is an integral part of a comprehensive marketing strategy. Blogs are prominent on business websites, including those of large corporations. Some businesses have even been born out of blogs. CNBC recently reported that Glossier, which started as the blog The Gloss in 2010, is now valued at $1.2 billion.
The biggest benefit of a company blog is search engine optimization (SEO). Blogging can help your SEO because search engines look for fresh websites, and blogs help keep your website full of updated content. Your blog posts can be optimized for business-related keywords that you might not otherwise rank on.
As with every marketing tactic, you need to be aware of your return on investment. With your blog, you will want to use a tool like Google Analytics to pay attention to both website visits and visit duration. It’s also worth paying attention to whether or not website visitors move to other pages on your website as a result of links in your blog posts.
Nervous about writing? Even if you don’t have a lot of experience writing consumer-facing content, you can still effectively promote your business on your blog by learning and following simple techniques.
How your blog can benefit your business
One of the greatest benefits of marketing and blogging is building awareness of your business. As your SEO improves, your number of website visitors will increase. The second step is having content that is engaging enough that it gets shared. Then, awareness of your blog and your business will grow dramatically.
Running a blog for your business can also help to increase your authority. When strategizing the kind of topics that you will cover through content marketing, think about what your customers trust you to be knowledgeable about. Writing informative blog posts about these subjects will help to increase your authority within your field.
Another benefit of your blog is that it can generate income for your business. You can monetize your site in several ways, including advertising, affiliate linking, and sponsored posts.
Tips to make your blog successful
Your company blog should serve as the center of your content marketing strategy, but it won’t work if it’s not supported. When building your strategy, be sure to sync your blog publishing schedule with your social media efforts. Publicizing your posts is key!
Beyond social media, there are many other ways to share your blog with the masses. These include tapping into influencers and contenting with aggregators. If your website is built using WordPress.com, you can grow your community by using the WordPress.com Reader to connect with others.
You can also use your company blog as the home for any digital product your company may produce, such as an e-book or a video tutorial. According to Entrepreneur, digital products are great because you create them only once but can sell them over and over again. As an added bonus, these offerings may attract more new readers to your blog.
When it comes to marketing and blogging, the best practice is to jump in. With frequent content, you can learn as you go, while building your website rankings and authority as your work.
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