If you want to boost your website’s rank on search pages then blogs offer you a cost effective solution. Moreover they open an informal dialogue with your customers and you can keep them engaged and interested in your business.
Now you have an opportunity to connect with your site’s audience; you can easily do that by leaving questions at the end of the post for them to answer. They can also leave comments about your post and by responding to them you can build an ongoing communication with them. Over time they will trust you and you will get insight about your viewers too.
Enhances your credibility
Blogs are a way of displaying your expertise in your niche industry and you will be looked at as the source to offer solutions when problems arise for your consumers. You can thus become the voice of authority in your chosen field and it will work wonders for your credibility. Whenever people are looking for advice they will rely on you.
Generate leads
Your blog will hold huge relevance to your industry. It also offers you a medium to include call for action at the end of the post. These calls for actions can be precursors to conversion points; for example, landing pages.
They can be used to generate specifically targeted sales leads through value based content, which could be in the form of e-books, classes or workshops for that matter. You realize that if your audience has shown interest so far then might just be interested in your products or services.
Your reach grows manifold
It is a platform where you can share thoughts and opinions with a large number of users. It has the potential of being your media asset like your publication that can have a loyal readership of its own. It’s a huge opportunity for small business owners who can benefit from it tremendously.
There are SEO benefits
By simply linking your blog to your main website, you will make sure search engine rankings for specific keywords and phrases that your users are looking for, is increased. Posts that have unique URLs can themselves be ranked highly by search engines and you can also make sure your posts are SEO friendly to get maximum benefits. It’s up to you to make it easier for your audience to find you when they are searching with targeted keywords.
Social Media
You will find that platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are meant to share content and connect with people. When you write blog posts you are in a way creating unique content that you can share with your audience. Importantly it can be shared by your audience amongst themselves and it can get circulated wide and far. If your post is high on quality it will be shared more and that will in turn drive traffic back to your website. It will make a huge difference to your brand recognition.
Fresh content for your website
For most websites, the content gets a bit stagnant after a certain point in time. But your users need fresh content in order to come back for more. When you have a blog you will manage to add fresh content to your site frequently, which will keep your users’ interest going. It will boost your overall online presence too.
Creates a buzz for you
You know the importance of media coverage but it can be tricky and doesn’t always work out. But you can take matters in your own hand and write about success stories, new product launches etc. It’s understandable that small business owners might find it difficult to manage a blog as it can be time consuming exercise. But once you start seeing its benefits you will know that it’s well worth the effort.
A powerful tool for market research
Blogging can be used as a brilliant market research tool; no two ways about it. You will get a good idea of what your audience is interested in very easily. It’s also possible to know the posts that are read and shared more with the help of easy to use and cheap analytics tools. It’s also possible to see posts that have generated most emails from readers. Knowing what your users are interested in is valuable information because you can cater to them accordingly.
There are many benefits blogs offer small businesses, which is why adding it to your website makes sense. Not only does it help your company’s online presence but will boost your sales along the way too.
Author bio: : I am Ramya Raju a freelance web design writer with 8 yrs of extensive blogging experience on a variety of online publishing and social-media platforms. I generally write high-quality articles on travel, photography, SEO, Web design, English courses, and generic topics too. I’m also an extrovert with a passion for photography, anthropology and travelling to different countries to learn the culture and living of the local inhabitants. You can contact him via his website http://www.colorcharacter.com/uk/services