Why Blogging is a Business’ Best Bet

 By Hector Cisneros

Image courtesy Pixabay

I’ve been writing weekly online marketing blogs for nearly nine years now and I thought I’d take the time today to explain why that is.  With 396 posts and more than 2.5 million pageviews, I can tell you that blogging is a great way to educate the public about your products and services.  How many websites can boast more than 10,000 views a month without spending one red cent on advertising?  Now many, that’s for sure.  Even the Blogger template that I use to produce the blog is free to use.  Still, that isn’t the only reason to start a blog for your business.  Below are ten reasons to consider.

1.      Websites are static. – Once you create and launch a website, it mostly lies there doing little to engage prospects and clients.  Think about it, when was the last time you updated your website?  If your homepage never changes, why should a prospect or customer come back to view it more than once?  Blogs on the other hand are dynamic.  They can grab the public’s attention over and over, provided you’re willing to produce weekly blogs.  They are also multimedia platforms that allow you to include photos, podcasts, and videos. 

2.      Blogs are interactive. – Once you have the reader’s attention, a blog can provide you with several ways to interact with them.  If you have a special offer, you can include a form at the top of every page that encourages a prospect to take the next step.  You can even customize the offer to coincide with the blog’s title. 

Image courtesy Pixabay

3.      Blogs are engaging. – Websites inform while blogs engage.  What I mean by that is that a blog is more than an electronic brochure.  Your website is all about YOU.  A blog on the other hand can focus on subjects of interest to your target audience.  They can be informative, thought-provoking, and entertaining.  More importantly, they can help you engage with the audience better than any website ever could. 

4.      Multiple ways to create an audience. – Face it, online marketing of websites is like a knife fight in a phone booth.  That’s because websites are forced to duke it out on the search engines for limited positions.  Blogs don’t rely on search engines to produce traffic.  They use social nets to generate an audience.  On top of that, blogs are extremely popular online, particularly if they have killer titles. Better still, you can repurpose your weekly blogs in a monthly newsletter that will let you take a second bite out of the apple.

5.      Blogs amp up your website’s SEO. – One of the top considerations for search engine position is backlinks.   Other than spending hours identifying and emailing firms in your industry begging for backlinks, what if there was an easier way to generate them?  How do you do this? By including links to your website at end of every blog. 

Image courtesy Pixabay

6.      Blogs can help you generate FREE advertising, - How can you do that?  By signing up for article posting sites that will repost your blog to other online businesses looking for content.  This is one free way to put your blog on steroids.

7.      Blogging doesn’t take a lot of time or effort. – If you’ve ever done any online advertising, you know it takes a lot of time, money, and effort to create, launch and monitor the results.  Blogs take only an hour or two per week to research, write and distribute (assuming you have decent research, writing and grammar skills). If you don't have the skills or time, it can be outsourced for a lot less money than you think.

8.      Blogs can change your personal status to an authority figure. – Everyone knows in order to turn a prospect into a customer, they have to know, trust, and like you.  Blogging can not only help you accomplish this, it can also elevate your status to that of authority figure.  Why not, since each and every blog you post enhances your aura of expertise to your readership.

9.      Blogs can even help you become a published author. – If you think blogging can enhance your professional stature, what do you think having your very own non-fiction book published would do for it?  If you write a 2-page blog every week for a year, you’ll have enough information to publish a book. When we ghost write blogs for our clients, we often provide a renewal bonus of producing their first book from the blogs we have produced for them.

10.  Blogs can help you stand out from the crowd. – If you own a business, you know that standing out from the competition is essential.  While doing so is no simple matter, blogging is one cost-effective way to generate the attention of a crowd of people who are interested in listening to what you have to say week in and week out.  In my opinion, that’s worth its weight in gold. 

There is one exception to the above benefits of blogging. The current censoring atmosphere in social media with regards to political speech. If your blog is expounding right-wing or conservative speech, your posts will be censored unless you are direct emailing your post to your audience or your posting to more libertarian type social sites which are not filtering political speech. If you stick to providing useful non political content your posts will be fine and will be shared based on the particular platforms current algorithms.

If you found this article to be useful, share it with your friends, family, and co-workers. If you feel you have something to add or just want to leave a comment do so below.  If you would like a free copy of our book Internet Marketing Tips for the 21 Century click here and fill in the form on the page. It has been my pleasure sharing with you our view of the current state of search engine marketing. I look forward to reading your comments. Thanks again for reading and sharing.   

That's my opinion; I look forward to reading yours.

Hector Cisneros is CEO of Working the Web to Win based in Jacksonville, FL. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube. He is also the co-host of Blog Talk Radio’s “Working the Web to Win,” where he and Carl Weiss make Working the Web to Win simple for every business. Hector is a syndicated writer for EzineOnline and is an active Blogger, (including ghostwriting). He is a published author of two books, 60 Seconds to success (on sale at Amazon and B&N) and Internet Marketing for the 21st Century which you can get free by clicking on the link at WorkingTheWebToWin.com.