Before you dismiss the idea of adding a blog to your website because "this isn't 2010 and I'm not interested in writing about 'What I ate in a Day' or 'Summer Crafts my Kids Love'", hear me out.
Blogs have changed quite a bit since they were first popularized. In its early days, a blog (shortened from the original term, "web log") was an informal, journal-type article on a website. Since then, blogs have evolved into something businesses of all sizes can benefit from.
Now, this doesn't mean that everyone will benefit from a blog. For many businesses, a blog is a great fit but for others, their time and resources may be better spent on more important business activities. Let's take a look at some considerations to determine if a blog is a good fit for your website.
Blogs Today
Put simply, a blog is a feed of regularly published articles and a blog post is one of these articles. These posts don't have to be casual anymore and, in fact, are often very professional or informational.
An entire website can be a blog or a website can have a blog within it. Not everyone will use the term "blog" though. Many businesses choose to name this area of their website "articles" or "news" which are more professional sounding terms that might be a better fit for their specific industry.
A Blog Can Be Great For:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
When done right, a blog can help bring in visitors from search engines. If a blog post provides an answer to a question somebody is searching for online, that article has a chance of showing up in their search results and getting clicked.
How do you find out what your target audience is searching for? My favorite place to grab a few ideas is Answer the Public. You can also use ideas that come up from things customers have asked you or maybe you are an expert on a topic that you would like to write about. Jot down a few ideas you find but don't overthink it — you're not necessarily going to use these as topics to write on. This is just your starting point.
Now type a few of those ideas into Google and see what comes up. Gather additional ideas under Google's "people also ask" section if you haven't already looked at this in a tool while brainstorming. Also keep a look out for anything insightful that comes up in competitor customer reviews, Reddit, Quora, or industry specific online forums. Note how questions are being answered and the included context surrounding those questions. Are people commonly misunderstanding how to use a product or how a service works? Is there something they are trying to learn such as new skill? Do they tend to have follow up questions after their question was answered? Is there a lot of misinformation on the subject? Is the answer dependent on opinions or beliefs?
Also pay close attention to any clues as to who might be looking for this information (age, profession, preexisting knowledge on the topic, struggles, etc) and keep them in mind while writing your blog post so you can try to write in a way that connects with them.
Take everything you find into consideration and use your findings to write a blog post optimized to be genuinely helpful.
Attracting More Customers
A blog that offers helpful information or provides value in some way will help you establish credibility and trust with your readers. If you can show that you are a trustworthy expert on your topic, your readers will be more likely to choose your services when the time comes.
In addition to providing added value for your visitors, blog posts offer natural-feeling placements for your business's calls to action. These calls to action remind your readers that you offer products or services that could further help them. I prefer to set up a call to action in the blog post template itself so it automatically displays in the sidebar or at the end of each post.
There are plenty of opportunities to mention your offerings within the copy of the post itself as well. For instance, just about anywhere in this particular blog post, I could mention that I offer fully custom websites with or without a blog area, depending on your unique needs. That bit of information is on topic, inserted into the post in a way that feels natural as opposed to a side note, and it might be just what my audience needs to know while reading this.
Monetized Websites And Additional Income
In addition to blogs having natural feeling spaces for calls to action, they are also well suited to many forms of advertising that can help your site bring in additional income. Ad networks offer various placements for ads on a blog such as the sidebar, header, or within the post content itself. Affiliates for a brand or participants in the Amazon Associates program, can easily insert affiliate links into the post content whenever it's relevant. Well established blogs may have opportunities to partner with a brand for sponsored posts.
There are some benefits and drawbacks to monetizing your site in this manner and it's not suited for all businesses. Grab a free copy of my ebook for more details on website monetization paths and an in-depth look at the advantages and disadvantages of monetizing.
Increasing Your Website's Pageviews
To ensure your blog is helping your pageviews effectively, use techniques such as internal linking for added information, researching relevant keywords and optimizing the post for those keywords, including a related content area on each blog post, and organizing your posts into categories for visitors to explore and engage with. Email lists and social media can be utilized for promoting new blog posts and bringing over more site visitors.
Long Lasting Content That Can Be Repurposed
Blog posts have a long lifespans. They will long outlast any social media posts and continue to be relevant and provide benefits over time, so long as the topic isn't on something that becomes outdated quickly. That being said, be sure to periodically update older blog posts with newer, more accurate information when needed.
Blog posts also work great repurposed on social media or in email marketing. Just because somebody reads the content in one place, doesn't mean they will see it everywhere else it shows up. Which basically means, it can't hurt to repeat yourself! Since blog posts tend to be lengthy compared to the content found on social media or in email inboxes, consider sharing just the best tidbits of the blog post - perhaps one post could be broken down and stretched out into lots of social media content. Don't do more work than you have to.
Showcasing Your Work
Blogs don't have to be a collection of articles at all. They make a great format for displaying an easy-to-navigate portfolio of work. As a matter of fact, I have both this article-based blog as well as a separate collection consisting of portfolio items on the same website. Just some basic categorization and (if you prefer) a separate post template for each category is all it takes.
There are other ways to showcase your work outside of a portfolio. In-depth case studies, stories of satisfied clients, new product announcements, and even peeks behind the scenes of a business all make for great post topics.
Building A Community
A blog can take on a personal tone or it can remain strictly professional. Or somewhere in between. After running a recipe blog for eleven years, you might be able to tell that my writing now takes on a bit of a conversational tone. Regardless of your writing style, blogging can still be a great way to establish a community and engage with your audience. They may choose to leave a comment, share on social media, or reach out to you via email to start a conversation, particularly if your writing has brought up questions.
Blogs Are Not Well-Suited For:
That was a lot of benefits but like I said, blogs aren't for all businesses. See if any of the following relates to your business.
Limited Audiences
Your business probably won't benefit from a blog if your specific industry has a limited audience. How do you know if you have a limited audience? If your business is highly specialized, doesn't sell to the general public, or operates strictly locally and you don't plan on expanding, then a blog may not reach or help your customers effectively.
Lack Of Content Possibilities
Nobody has writers block as much as a business with no topics to write about. If you see your business having a lack of content possibilities, I would suggest forgoing a blog. I've seen a lot of businesses like this online — the blog is just an abandoned, forgotten about area of their sites with just a small handful of posts, none of them recent.
But stop right there.
Before you say you don't have anything to write about, ask yourself if you could benefit from a portfolio or some case studies/success stories. You'll probably want a blog area to best share those with your audience. Just be sure to add new content every so often.
Businesses With A Lack Of Resources
Soloproneurs....I hear you. There's nothing like trying to keep up with articles while running a one man show to stretch yourself thin. Even small teams or businesses with other lack of resources may struggle to keep up with a blog. A successful blog can take a lot of effort and requires both quality and consistency. Some knowledge of SEO is helpful too. If writing is not your strength, consider outsourcing a copywriter, assigning blogging tasks to another team member, or omitting the blog altogether. You can always reevaluate later.
