Blogging is super important for any business – online businesses and brick & mortar!  Having a blog not only helps you reach millions (or billions) of people by maintaining a consistent online presence, but it shows your expertise in whatever topic you are blogging about.

More specifically, through blogging, you are providing value to your audience without asking anything in return. A blog is there for you to give information to your audience with no strings attached. Although let’s be honest, we’d love a little string to tug those potential clients over to our client roster list, right?

You should never think of your blog as just “another thing to do” on your never-ending checklist. Your blogging strategy should be just as strong as any of your other marketing strategies, including your social media strategy. Because having a blog on your website and having social media are both important – and I talk more about that here. For this post, let’s talk about the reasons why your website needs a blog and how to start one like a pro!

Increase your visibility and drive traffic

Simply put, the more blog posts you put out into the world-wide-web, the more opportunities you have to show up in your audience’s search engine, aka Google. Basically, writing and posting quality blog posts provides more opportunities to drive organic traffic to your website and generate leads.

Boost your SEO even further

Writing new content in the form of blog posts is beneficial for your business for a couple of reasons. First, it helps Google find (and re-rank) you when your new post hits the web, further strengthening your SEO.

Second, having plenty of blog posts gives you the perfect opportunity to improve your internal linking! Within your blogs, you can point your readers in the right direction or where they can take the next steps within your website using these internal links.

These two strategies help you rank better in SEO leading to more traffic and potentially to more leads.

Find new clients

Using the SEO strategies from above, you can increase the likelihood of visitors to land on your website through blog posts. This is an amazing marketing advantage that should never be overlooked. Blogs are a great way for your potential clients to find you. When they come across a blog post you’ve written that resonates with them, they may start clicking around your site, come to love you, and boom! You’ve got a new client, or at the very least, a warm lead.

Create value

Through blogging, you are able to teach and explain more about your products or services. Because you are the expert, remember? When your website is filled with free content that adds value to your readers, you are seen as an authority in your industry or niche. Zing!

Don’t forget that photos, videos, and links are also great ways to maintain your audience’s interest as they read and scroll through your site.

Establish your accountability

Blogging is a great way to gain readership but it’s also a fantastic way to make sure you are producing consistent content for them to read. How many times have you said you’ll do something, and then forget, or put it off? When you have an expecting audience, you are much less likely to disappoint them. This may sound a little daunting, but I promise, it’s a great motivator for churning out steady content.

Because everyone else is

Now, I know everybody wants to be different and stand out. But when it comes to blogging, you definitely want to hop on the bandwagon. It’s highly likely that your competitors are blogging, which puts you at a distinct disadvantage if you aren’t. So put effort into your blog so you can level the playing field in your niche!

Bonus Tip

Blogs are a great way to gain social media exposure since they are easily shareable. Promoting your blog through social media is a great way for your website or business to be exposed to an even wider audience. Not only are you staying consistent on your social media channel (and on your blog) but you are bringing traffic to your website.

So, How do you start a blog?

I’ll save the more nitty-gritty details for a future blog post (see, I have plenty of blog content coming your way!) and, instead, give you a brief overview of how to start blogging for your website.

Step 1: Choose a niche for your blog

Choose a set of topics you will blog about the most often. I recommend choosing anywhere from 4-6 niche topics. For example, mine are Branding, Web Design, Photography, Business, & Social Media.

Step 2: Brainstorm topics to talk about

I recommend having your phone (or notebook if you are old school like me) to jot down blog post ideas when they come to you. I always seem to think of topic ideas in the weirdest moments – like in the checkout line at the grocery store. If you don’t have any ideas coming to you on their own, feel free to google “blog topic ideas” and read through some great prompts. You’d be surprised how prompts help you brainstorm!

Step 3: Start writing!

You can talk about starting a blog all day. But it won’t actually happen until you start writing. Set aside an hour a day (or maybe one full day a week) to churn out some blog posts. If you absolutely hate writing, look into hiring a copywriter or blog content writer.

Step 4: Publish your posts

Once you’ve written your insight into specific topics, it’s time to get it out to the world. Don’t worry about everything being perfect. It’s more important to get your value to your audience than it is having all your i’s dotted and t’s crossed.

Step 5: Promot your blog posts

I highly recommend using Pinterest to start circulating your posts, but sharing them among your family and friends or on your social channels are some other great options. Get your words out there and don’t be bashful! People want to read what you have to say.

Creating content and sharing it online is a powerful marketing tool to enhance your business. I can’t stress enough the importance of blogging in your business. By providing consistent information to your audience, you are offering them a huge value. Your audience will remember that you provided free information to them, and they will likely keep coming back for more. This induces trust, and eventually, they will be ready to hand you their credit card when they decide to invest in you.

Are you ready to start your blog and uplevel your business website? I’d love to help you on your journey! Click here to book a Discovery Call. I would love to chat with you about your business marketing goals!