Ever wonder why so many businesses are blogging online? In school, I don’t remember too many people who enjoyed writing papers. Yet, everyone wants to blog nowadays and it’s for a very good reason – Blogging is one of the most powerful online marketing tools for just about any type of business.
Why?
Well, in this article I’ll cover the 5 main reasons.
First, blogging positions you as an expert in your field. It’s almost instant credibility, analogous to writing a book. So prospects will be more attracted to you versus your competitors who may not visibly be experts. Think about it, would you rather go to the John, the chiropractor, or Joe, the chiropractor who publishes “the healthy back” blog? I’d be more confident in Joe because he’s consistently publishing up-to-date information, which clearly displays his expertise.
Second, a well written blog can be leveraged to get more publicity via interviews and guest articles on other prominent websites. Radio, TV, magazines, newspapers, new websites, and other media are always on the look out for experts and you’ll be much more attractive if you’re already publishing great articles on your blog. I’m not saying you need to blog to get this type of PR. It’s just a lot easier to get your foot in the door.
Third, your blog articles will give you more opportunities to rank in Google. Typical business websites only have a handful a webpages. Compare that to a website that publishes a new blog article every single week. After one year you now have 52 webpages that could rank in Google and drive traffic to your website. Each new blog article is like a tentacle pulling in new leads and sales.
Fourth, an active blog shows Google your website is “still alive.” This is critical for SEO purposes. Google only wants to show up-to-date information in the search results so if your website hasn’t been updated in several months (or even several years), then that can hurt your rankings. Each new blog article is a signal to Google that you’re still alive and someone is maintaining the website’s information.
And finally, fifth, your blog articles give you more opportunities to get links to your website. Inbound links from other websites are the #1 factor in how Google ranks your website in the search results. Think of each link as a vote in your favor. By blogging, you’re creating fresh content that other websites can reference by linking to it on their sites. And as you continue to get more and more links, Google will consider your website to be more authoritative, which in turn will boost your search engine rankings.
So there you have it. If you’re not blogging in 2013, then you’re missing out on the opportunity to position yourself as the expert, get more publicity, and get more SEO traffic!
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