5 Reasons to Include a Blog on Your Website-Featured.jpg

5 Reasons to Include a Blog on Your Website

Having a website is a great start for any business in establishing an online presence and being more visible online. And, regardless of the industry you’re in or how big or small your business may be, your business website needs a blog.

Why your website needs a blog

#1. Drive organic traffic to your website

There are many ways to make your business visible online, including social media management, YouTube, business directories, paid advertising and search engine optimization (SEO).

SEO is, by far, the most cost-effective way to drive traffic to your website, but it’s also a long-term strategy that relies on adding content consistently to your website, which is most effectively accomplished through blogs.

The three main aspects of SEO are content, keywords and links, which are all things blogging can help with. When you blog, you’re adding content to your website, it allows you to use relevant long-tail keywords naturally and, if the information you publish is valuable and helpful, it will start earning backlinks.

#2. Inform your customers

There’s a reason why consumers turn to electricians, plumbers, barber shops, etc. instead of just doing things for themselves — they don’t know how! When your customers come to you, it’s not because they’re lazy or don’t have time; it’s usually because they are relying on your expertise. But with that reliance, has to come a lot of trust, and that’s where having a blog can come in handy.

No one wants to feel like a business is pulling the wool over their eyes or attempting to take advantage of them by selling a product or service they don’t really need. But you can help to ease some of those fears and build more trust by keeping your customers informed through your blog.

In your blogs, you can give your readers more detailed descriptions of the services and products you have to offer, as well as fully inform them about what kinds of problems your services and products can help to solve.

If you can manage to make your blog informative and helpful enough, you can establish your business as an authority, which will build more trust in your visitors and help your site to rank higher in the organic search results.

#3. Keep your customers in the loop

Change is a key part of life and growth, and just as true on the business level as it is on the individual level. Things are always changing in the world, and a business’s ability to keep up with that change and evolve has a direct impact on its ability to survive and thrive.

Change can mean so many things for businesses. It might mean launching a new product or expanding your services. It might mean branching out to offering services online or over the phone. It might mean acquiring or merging with a different company, hiring a new CEO, partnering with a nonprofit or sponsoring an upcoming event. Whatever change means for your business, your blog is a great place to share it.

You don’t want to overwhelm your readers by overloading them with information on the majority of pages on your website. The pages of your website have a specific purpose, but your blog offers a lot more leeway. Your blog is the perfect opportunity to keep your customers in the loop about what’s going on with your business, as well as about what’s going on in your industry.

#4. Open the channel for two-way communication

Most of the content on your website consists of you informing your visitors about your business, your services, your products, etc. This content is about you talking to your visitors, but it doesn’t leave any room for them to communicate with you in return. Your blog, on the other hand, provides your visitors with a way to give you feedback directly.

Your blog allows for a two-way conversation with your visitors in a way that’s otherwise not possible on your website. By opening up the comments section on your blog, you can have in-depth conversations with your visitors, which will help to build trust and establish the authority of your brand online.

How do you encourage visitors to leave feedback on your blogs? One of the easiest ways to encourage more engagement is by ending your blog with a question or a survey. And, when someone comments on your blog, make it a point to respond.

#5. Blogs can support your social strategy

Even with a great website, your business needs a presence on all relevant social media platforms. And, believe it or not, blogging can go a long way toward supporting your social media marketing efforts.

Blogs are very shareable on social media, and that’s especially true when you include social icons on each post. Best of all, you don’t have to wait for your readers to share your blogs on social media; you can share them, too. This creates links back to your website, which is always helpful from an SEO standpoint, and it prevents you from always having to come up with new content to post on social.

Any blog you share on social media should be original, interesting and valuable to your readers. If you can accomplish that, you’ll be able to create content that engages your followers and gets liked, shared, and commented on.

Having an online presence is the key to survival for many small businesses. If you’re looking to build a beautiful, effective website with a blog for your business, look no further than the Websites 360® website builder. Start building your website today!

Originally published 3/18/20