Why a Blog is good for Business

I love blogs.

I appreciate the word itself can bring some out in a cold sweat; ‘I don’t have the time to regularly blog!’, ‘where on earth do I start?’, ‘is it difficult to blog?’ etc. etc.

I’ll save the answers to these questions for another day though, because for now, I want to talk about why I love blogs.

And there are two key reasons. 1 = they’re great for SEO. 2 = they’re great for showcasing the value you can offer your customers.

Let’s look a little closer:

Great for SEO

Search engines such as Google really want you to choose them over a competitor to help you find what you’re looking for online. For you to choose them you need to be confident that when you look for something they’ll bring up websites that match your search as closely as possible – and it’s the content of the website that helps them work out what’s relevant and what isn’t.

They also prioritise sites that are updated regularly – knowing that the website owner is bothering to keep things fresh for visitors.

So having a regular blog is a win-win. You regularly update your website whilst including fresh content relevant to your customers and prospects. Focus on topics that your customers will be searching for – and make the topics a little wider than just what your business offers. I’ve put together some thoughts to help on this in another blog (see, told you I love them!).

Great for showcasing your value

Imagine there are two companies selling fish. Both offer very high quality produce. Both have great staff. Both are competitive in pricing, and both have a nice shop that you can browse in.

Which one will you choose to buy from?

What if I were to tell you that one also offered recipes for their favourite fish of the week? That they suggested what wines to match with certain types of fish? That they regularly suggested new fish for you to try and explained why you should? That they partnered with a local cooking school and offered classes to their customers?

Now who will you buy from?

Let’s take this online. Put yourself in the position to be the business that thinks wider than the service you offer or the products you sell. How can you add even more value to your customers?

A blog is actually a great platform for doing this. A website explains what it is that you do, why you do it, how you differ from your competition and who your people are etc. etc. It’s all very much focused on helping your visitors understand that you’re the right business for them – but you’re still selling to a certain extent.

A blog gives you the opportunity to pretty much sit down and have a chat, to share what you’ve found interesting, to give a little more personality and help visitors to get to know more about you and your approach. The only necessity here is that all these things need to relate back to you business in some way.

If you’ve been to an industry event where you learnt a lot, read a really cool article that’s helped you think outside the box, had a great experience with a customer that you think may help others – share your thoughts!

So start a Blog!

Ultimately, be the business that considers what else your customers might be interested in… both behind-the-scenes and wider than their direct relationship with you. The more you’re thinking about them, the more they’ll think about you.

That’s it for now!

Rebecca x