Blogging for Small Business

There are so many benefits to blogging for your small business. One of the most important is that it is very inexpensive. If you do not have the time to do it yourself, you can hire a blog writing service. Blog writing services pricing varies. It is less expensive on  Fiverr or other freelance sites. However, make sure you get writing samples to make sure the freelancer writes in a style that works for your business. More importantly, make sure you edit the content before posting. Having a successful business blog takes time and consistency. Let’s review how blogging will help you grow your business.

 Successful Business Blogs

1.  Increase organic traffic to your website. Marketing is all about getting your message seen by the right people. Having a good blog post that answers questions that people are searching for will get your message seen by the right people. You can then present your product or service as the solution. The good thing about organic web traffic is that the customer is further down the sales funnel. This person is problem aware. You goal is providing good content that provides a solution.
2. Builds Authority- Blogging allows you to demonstrate your expertise. Providing good content that solves problems automatically establishes you as an authority on the subject. You become the teacher and your audience the student. This creates a bond between you and the reader. You want to develop a fanatical group of enthusiastic customers who help support your business.
3.  Build E-mail Marketing List– Avid readers of your blog will want to be informed when new articles are posted. Blogging is a great way to get potential customers to opt-in into your e-mail list. An e-mail list is an asset that keeps returning dividends. Once you an e-mail list you can market new products or services to your e-mail list. Set-up e-mail automation campaign  and maintain regular contact.  Just make sure you are providing value and not just selling. If you come across as always selling, you will lose the trust of your audience.
4. Receive Feedback from audience-Blogging isn’t just a one way street. Blogging allows your business to receive feedback on the needs of your visitors. This feedback provides valuable intelligence on the needs of your audience. Use this information to provide better products and services.

 Tips for Successful Business Blogging

• Search engine optimization (SEO) –  You must complete keyword research to optimize you blog post. Keyword research allows you to identify exactly what words and phrases people are looking for in Google, Bing, Yahoo and others. After you have completed your research, you use your keyword research to make a list of a least 20 different posts. There are many different angles you can take on different subjects. You then get to work writing your blogs posts. The key is appropriately utilizing your keyword research writing and formatting your blog.
• Insert photos and video into your post that reflect your subject matter. Photos and Videos keep visitors on your site which increases your dwell time. Dwell Time is a ranking factor. It indicates how long people are staying on your site. If people are clicking on your website and leaving right away, you will have a high bounce rate. Google sees a high bounce rate as a signal that the content is not relevant and it negatively affects your Google search results.
• The longer and more detailed the content the better. A 2016 study by Backlinko.com, indicated that content with an average of roughly 1800 words ranked in the 3 search results. Don’t panic, I would suggest writing a minimum of 500 words, there is no need to stuff  the blog post with fluff. However, don’t shy away from longer posts. Once you get a 50 or 60 posts up you can post an ultimate guides post along a chosen theme. An ultimate blog post is where you combine 3 or 4 shorter posts. That is why it is so critical when conducting keyword research you organize your blogging schedule. You should never run out of ideas to write about.
• Consistency. In order to see the results you want, you have to blog regularly. If  you are not able to commit the time, hire someone. The goal is to get a lot of good content out for the search engines to find and direct people back to your site. Blogging once a month is not good enough. I suggest a 30 day challenge to start with. A post everyday for 30 days. If you are doing this yourself, it is very difficult. It literally took me all day  when I started. After 2 weeks, I could outline my blog post, research and organize by keyword in about 2 hours. The most important part is writing the post photos, charts and videos can be added the next day if needed.

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