Did you know 43% of business owners don’t know what blogging is or don’t actively blog for their business? In an age where online marketing continues to grow, these businesses are missing out. But never fear, Blog Write is here to explain all!
The word blog comes from the longer phrase ‘weblog’ and means a discussion or information text on the web. Blogs are often more informal in their tone and are published regularly, similar to diary entries, with the most recent post usually featuring at the top of the page.
Potted history
A lot of people that are aware of blogs may associate them with individual bloggers. People who blog about their lifestyles, perhaps with a focus on children, diet or personal interests. This certainly seemed to be a popular outlet in the early 2000’s with the number of bloggers quickly reaching 50 million by 2006. By 2010 political organisations, news outlets and businesses had all joined the blogging community, pushing the number of active blogs to 152 million. Today there are estimated to be 600 million blogs (Growth Badger)
Business blogs
The businesses that were early to adopt a business blog quickly saw the benefits which saw the trend continue to multiply. Now businesses with blogs are seeing a 126% increase in lead generation if they blog about their industry (Daily Inforgraphic). Also, half of the top 200 Fortune 500 companies had a corporate blog in 2018. Authoritative blogs that talk intelligently about your industry and products, prove to prospects that you are an expert in your field and show thought leadership. Web visitors are more likely to trust your opinion and contact you for general advice, which then of course opens the door for new business.
Where to start?
If you don’t have a blog on your business website, it might feel like a daunting task to set one up and maintain it. The fear of not keeping it up to date may even be putting you off of having one in the first place. But help is at hand. If you used a web developer to build your website, they will be able to quickly and easily set you up with a business blog. If you designed your site yourself but have maxed out your web skills just getting that far, there are lots of handy guides available online.
How to maintain?
Once you have the facility set up on your website you can start filling it with content. And if this is something you don’t have time to do yourself you can employ external blog copywriters to help you out. Again, you have options – you can either employ a few freelance blog copywriters to supply you with content, or you can choose to build a relationship with one writer that will almost become an external employee. Someone who works as though they are part of your business, immerses themselves in your organisation’s values, product offering and USPs, but that is more affordable than employing someone full or even part-time.
So, if you are sold on the benefits of business blogging but have been procrastinating because you don’t know where to start, don’t miss out a second longer. The benefits of a business blog – read more about some of these here – are yours if you want them.
Image by Sophie Janotta
