Blog Marketing
How blogs can help Small Business
While many of you will already be familiar with the term blog and probably subscribe to several, I thought it would be worth going back to basics and explaining what blogs are in a nutshell and how blog marketing can help small business.
You can think of a blog as a series of articles, that are written and posted on-line over a period of time. It could be daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or on an ad hoc basis. Generally, these articles are called blog posts, they are about a topic of interest, or subject and could be anything from a blog about small business marketing, financial services, travel, fashion, art or food and everything in between. Blog marketing for Small Business is really about reaching and communicating with the target audience of a business through the use of blog posts.
Benefits of blog marketing for business
Blogs provide information and commentary on various subjects and are a great means of providing new content to your customers to keep them coming back to your website and to keep them up to date with what’s new in your industry.
Blogs are a great way to:
- Help drive traffic to your website and can improve search engine rankings. A blog post allows you to create more content and you can use key words within your posts to connect with your potential customers and make your website more searchable. You can also include links in your blog articles to other areas of your website such as your services page or a product page, these links help to guide visitors to different areas of your website that may include information that is important to them, or even make it easier for a customer to make a purchase in your on-line store, or to place an order.
- SEO and fresh new content. When a blog post is added to your website this is fresh new content, which is looked upon favourably by Google. Remember a blog helps fuel Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) so it’s a good way to improve SEO.
- Blogs help keep your business top of mind. They create a regular touch point with customers, which keeps you top of mind when the time comes for your customer to buy a product or service similar to the ones you are offering.
- Blogging can help you get discovered on social media. If you are creating content that people like and share, more people will discover your business and/or your brand. An additional benefit is that blog posts can be reused on other social channels such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
- Helps to establish your authority and build trust. A blog can help you build an audience and a following of loyal readers, just make sure your content is genuine, useful and interesting! Nobody likes or shares or even notices a boring blog post. So aim to keep it fresh, interesting and/or entertaining.
As a small business owner there are so many things you can share about your own personal experience running a business. You know your industry, products and services better than anyone else. Think about what might be valuable to your existing and prospective customers. You might be surprised how quickly you come up with a list of topics you could blog about.
Blogs are low cost marketing investment and there are even some free blogging platforms out there for you to use, but be mindful of your selection particularly if you want to use your blog for business purposes as opposed to creating a personal blog. My advice is do your homework first. If you are not sure where to start, or you dislike writing, or need help, reach out to us, we can assist you to set up your blog or just point you in the right direction.
Happy blogging!
Effie Cinanni
Small Chilli Marketing