It’s Episode 7 of the Visceral Concepts Podcast! Join Founder Michael McNew as he talks about the benefits you miss out on by not blogging. If you shirk the idea of a blog because it sounds like some sort of online diary or child’s play, you really need to listen along.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/336635141″ params=”color=43b649&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]Its 2017, if you are not running a blog, you are damaging your digital marketing efforts. First and foremost, in our business we believe that content marketing is key. We built our strategy on the idea that small businesses need to use their online resources, including their website and social media, to generate leads. It’s one of the easiest, most effective ways, to generate passive leads for your company allowing your sales team to be more effective at closing deals. So, if you look around on the internet you are going to find tons of articles on why you need to start a blog and what it can do for your business.
Contents
Starting A Blog Should Be A No-Brainier.
As I was doing research on blogging, I came across an article that I couldn’t believe had been written. It was a blog that told readers that they shouldn’t start a blog in 2017. Let that sink in. A blog saying not to blog. For the sake of professionalism, I am not going to release the author’s information or where I found the blog article. This author wrote a blog that pitched his product that, he claims, will replace the need for blogging in a more “effective” way. My thoughts are that if his product is so effective and so much better than blogging, then why is he using a blog to advertise and sell his product? Seems a little counter-intuitive to me.
This article just emphasized my point. Blogs are not going out of style and are by far one of the most effective pieces of a digital marketing strategy…even when being used to promote a product that is supposedly going to replace blogging. According to HubSpot, business to business marketers who use blogs receive 67% more leads than those who don’t. Also, marketers who prioritize blogging are 13 times more likely to have a positive ROI and it has been rated as the 5th most trusted source for accurate online information. Companies who blog get 97% more links directing readers back to their website. Effective back-linking and SEO means that more sources are pointing their clients, readers, fans, and more to you as an authority in your industry. This is a huge deal.
The 7 Things You Are Missing Out On
Below, we’ve got the benefits that you’re not getting simply because you refuse to blog. That’s right, by not taking the time for this one task, you miss out on all this. We could effectively title this article “The 7 Reasons You’ll Go Out Of Business In 2018”. But we won’t, because you’re going to learn from and implement these, aren’t you?
You Are Not Effectively Building Your Online Brand
I am sure that you have a Facebook page with your logo and branded material emblazoned all over it. You probably have solid marketing materials in your print department or maybe you even have a solid email strategy. There is nothing out there that spreads the word and engages with your customers in a more meaningful, intelligent way than an effective blog.
Your blog is the single best place to define who you are as a brand. By using effective articles that not only state valuable knowledge that you carry but also where you stand on that knowledge of your industry that your target demographic cares about.
You Are Not Proving That You Are An Authority
Like I said before, blogs are the 5th most trusted online resources for accurate information. This means that if you write a blog, you are producing information that, in the eyes of the public, is accurate and relevant. The information that they receive from you is trustworthy. It’s what they want to know.
What this equates to for you, is standing out as an authority in your industry. Your clients and potential clients will value your opinion and take a shared stance with you on just about anything you say, provided you are blogging effectively.
You Are Missing The Foundation Of A Digital Marketing Plan
You could have all the lead capture components in the world on your website but if you don’t have good, quality information being produced on a regular basis—the answers to your customer’s questions, then no one has a reason to visit your website, sign up for your newsletters, or give you their contact information.
Your calls to action – your lead capture funnel – is missing the foundational component.
You Are Not Building A Community
No matter how good your social media is, there must be something surrounding it that sparks deeper conversation. You could attempt to use information from other people’s blogs; however, what winds up happening is that you begin helping them to build their online community for their products and services. It is especially bad if they happen to be technically a competitor in your industry.
As you create interaction on your website, via the email list or the blog comments, you are creating a community of people who wind up conversing and sharing (hopefully) the positive benefits of your company. Not only are they sharing this information and experiences with each other, they will end up sharing it with the general world around them, creating a higher quality lead for your business.
You Are Missing A Solid SEO Strategy
SEO, or search engine optimization, is a word that gets thrown around a lot in the digital marketing world. People understand that they need to optimize their website for search. The problem is that Google has set up their most recent iteration to favor content that is fresh, relevant to the search terms, that is updated regularly, and that gets people to spend quality time on your website.
If you don’t blog you are robbing your website of that benefit. It means you are robbing your website of quality backlinks from other websites. It means you are robbing your website of additional varied keywords and you are missing out on the results from image, video and podcast searches. You are robbing your website of quality “view time” from your visitors.
You Are Losing The Opportunity For Innovation
When you do the research necessary for effective blogging, as I did for this article, you are giving yourself the opportunity to explore your industry and your own company in more detail than you would at any other time. You get to examine all the tiny details and nuances of your industry that matter to your clients.
Looking at the details gives you the opportunity to be creative, to think of new ways to solve the issues and problems that you have been dealing with, and different ways to present and market your products and services. It may even help you to develop new products and services to better suit your clientele and your industry. Blogging costs you nothing but can bring you a potential of significantly increased revenue. It is one of the best sparks to innovation that you can get today.
You Are Damaging Your Public Relations Efforts
Having an active blog is like having your own newspaper or publishing source that serves as an outlet to share news and updates about your company with your target audience. It is a guarantee that your information will get out into the public and it will be seen, at least to some degree.
It also brings legitimacy to your business. When you do release information to the newspapers they can link back to your blog and show your audience that your information is legitimate and that it is worth checking out.
Its Blog Or Die.
The things on this list are not just suggestions—they are musts for your digital marketing strategy. They highlight all the important, pertinent reasons why you are hurting your digital marketing strategy, and ultimately the future of your business, if you do not utilize effecting blogging on your website for your business.
