I’m a big fan of having a blog as part of your content strategy.  Why?  The return is BIG, and your reader will benefit too.  Think about it… how many times a day or a week do you read or scan a blog?  Are you taking at least something away?  Inspiring others, impacting change, and serving more clients – that’s the ultimate dream.  Right?  Yes, most small businesses should blog.

There’s a lot of noise out there in the universe these days.  Blogs are shorter, more digestible, usually very focused pieces of content.  Besides, who has time to read a novel?  Not me!  Here are 7 reasons why a small business should blog and it will help your business grow and thrive:

1. Increase your SEO results. Search engine optimization that drives more traffic to your website is the number one reason to have a blog.  Google crawlers are searching and indexing your website.  They’re looking to see if your website has relevant, up-to-date content.  Blogs are an excellent way to keep things current.  Additionally, a blog with keywords strategically placed have a higher chance of showing up in searches.  Plus, the more relevant content on your site, the more you have an opportunity to create inbound links.  It’s a perfect storm of SEO you want to generate!

2. Connect with dream clients. HubSpot reports, “Blogging businesses experience a 126% lead growth, a much larger increase than that of non-blogging businesses.”  Your dream client is out there, and they are going to search for something related to what you have to offer.  Relevant content on your site that supports the core of your brand and business gives them more opportunity to find you.

Getting beyond the basic website pages helps them fall in love with you and what you’re offering.  It’s like speed dating for websites!  I know you’ve done this too.  You check out the primary pages.  If you like what you see, you dive into the blog to learn more.  You have to like a brand and the person or people behind the brand before doing business together.  You can quickly move a warm lead to a hot lead with a blog.

3. Keep in touch and keep sharing. Blog articles can serve as the foundation of what you’re sharing in social media posts, emails, newsletters, and other communications.  One blog can be shared on LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter, featured in your client newsletter, sent through an e-blast and linked to from other blog articles.  That’s a LOT of traction!

Evergreen articles feature content that very rarely goes out-of-date.  They can be shared or referenced, again and again, keeping you top of mind with your audience.  Besides, only about 5% of your audience sees your blog post the first time.  Ok, maybe only your mom is hitting the refresh button on your blog page anxiously waiting for the new one to pop up.

If you wrote 52 blog articles or one per week, and at least half of them are evergreen, think of all the additional content you would be able to repurpose the following 52 weeks in the second year.  This is especially helpful if you’re launching a new business.

4. Essential to support your content strategy. Blogs, slideshares, infographics, whitepapers, and other resources are all key to your content curation and strategy.  People find these resources when they’re searching for help or more information.  Blogs can be easier and quicker to keep up-to-date since most are designed as part of your overall website, and there’s a designated location for the post.  Their flexibility in length, visuals, and topic make them very appealing.

5. Connect with new people. There are other new people besides your dream client you can impact.  It could be an opportunity to mentor someone, join a new community, meet a vendor, partner, friend, or champion for your world.  You could meet other entrepreneurs to share best practices, similar interests, or resources.  Either way, it will only have a positive influence on you and your business.

6. Tell your story. Your blog is sometimes the most authentic way to share your story, the story of your team, news, and updates.  It’s a place where you can be more personal, real, and genuine.  Here, you don’t feel the pressure to be as “professional” as you think you should be on your main website pages.  That witty, corny, funny side can come through.  Is it because most of us believe… they’ll sign on the dotted line before they even hit the blog?  Wrong!

7. Establish yourself as an expert in your industry.  Most of us spend so much time working for our dream clients, we don’t work on our dream as much as we should.  Don’t forget to share your knowledge with the rest of the world.  It will help continue to attract those ideal clients and open the doors for you to showcase what you have to offer.  You never know what could come next.  

Leave a comment and let me know which reason inspires you the most.

Ready, set, grow!

All my best,