To blog or not to blog?

To blog or not to blog? In our case, it has always been the question. Should we blog? Why should we blog? A simple answer to these questions is, yes, we should because as the saying goes, Content is King. Content marketing, while not a novel idea, has become an effective tool in the overall marketing strategies of many online businesses. Wherever you turn on the internet these days, many social marketers advocate the importance of content marketing, and for good reasons. A blog is but one platform for online content marketing. In the foreseeable future, it is anticipated that most digital marketing plans will include blogging as one of the content marketing strategies. So, why would any business want to blog? Is there a real benefit to blogging? Let’s just say that there is a myriad of reasons why a business would or should blog. Blogging is a means of sharing valuable insights, news, and promotions with your audience. Additionally, understanding that 90% of B2B businesses, as well as 81% of consumers, conduct research online prior to making a purchase, it becomes imperative for businesses to have an online presence where pertinent information is shared with the public. Blogging is one of the cheapest forms of creating and sharing content online. Many marketers have written extensively about the benefits of blogging. Of the many benefits, we will highlight FIVE TAKEAWAYS here in this article. It gives brands a human voice Blogging humanizes your business or brand and helps consumers connect with the brand. It enables you to build a deeper relationship with your audience through brand storytelling and the creation of emotional connections. This is a way for business owners to show the personality of their brand. If it resonates well with consumers, it can lead to increased brand recognition and trust. Develops thought leadership Along with humanizing a brand, blogging facilitates the sharing of valuable knowledge, experiences, and expertise in a given field. When done well, it can lead to brand trust, loyalty, and lead conversion. Over time, a blog that delivers consistent valuable insights about a subject matter is likely to be viewed as a thought leader in that field. There are 28 million small businesses in the United States of America. This is one way many small businesses can differentiate themselves as they compete with well-established larger enterprises. ​Improves search engine optimization Creating fresh content for your blog leads to producing fresh content for your website which will be indexed by search engines. The more indexed pages on your website with rich keywords, the more visible your domain will be in search

engines thus increasing organic traffic to your website. Blogging can also assist in gaining high-quality inbound links to your site. These links can create significant referral traffic to your site while improving your search engine optimization (SEO). To maximize the potential of this benefit, the blog must be housed on the business website and must be published consistently with fresh valuable content. Although search engine algorithms change often, and this is not the only way to boost SEO, search engines generally love fresh content. Enables long-term lead conversion The organic traffic generated from blogging and blogs shared on social media sites can generate new leads. An active blog shows that the website is active which is good for SEO but also good for business in general as it helps with lead conversion. New and fresh content is great, however old blogged content can be quite useful as well. Past content can continue to generate leads if the contents and subject matter are relevant and provide valuable information to visitors on your website. According to HubSpot, 90% of leads it generates in any given month are often generated from blogs posted in previous months. Facilitates consumer engagement For whatever reason you decide to blog, one important aspect of blogging is that it gives businesses the opportunity to engage with their audience. It allows prospects and customers to comment and pose questions about your blog. Yes, social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and others do allow some form of engagement with our audience, however; this engagement is now on your business website. According to the CMA, 68% of consumers are likely to spend time reading content from a brand in which they are interested. Even if visitors to your website are not commenting on your content, prospects, and clients will be able to see questions that you have addressed and reach out to you.

Perhaps you are not interested in blogging. It is not your cup of tea. You simply stumbled upon this article by chance while you were looking for branding or custom graphic design work. Whatever your reasons are, feel free to share your comments and questions with us. We are happy to help. If you like what you are reading, subscribe to our mailing list for updates. We intend to use our blog as a means to periodically share valuable information with businesses and clients who visit our website. We will also use it to answer general questions that crop up and share insights about our journey. Thank you for reading our debut blog; we encourage you to visit us again for more. We will share nuggets of insights and information from time to time. Remember to join our mailing list for scoops and updates that will benefit your business.​​