In the last 50 years, the way that businesses connect with their customers has drastically changed. What started as face to face interactions has now shifted into the digital era with websites like Facebook and Google taking the way businesses market and sell by storm. In this day and age, online digital marketing is the greatest way to reach your customers because everything they need, that you provide, can be found by the touch of your fingertips.
What you may not know is that as a business owner, one of your greatest assets is one that is drastically underused. Your knowledge and expertise is the key to growing and expanding the way you succeed in your business.
At one point in time, long ago before social media became the talk of the town, blogging was how people from different walks of life connected, and how businesses shared their products and services with the world. But, blogging isn’t dead, its value has been forgotten and we are here to remind you why blogging is the greatest tool that you may have been missing all along.
When we say blog we are not talking about moms who share their daily lives, we are talking about those articles that everyone reads online when they are looking for solutions to problems, that help them learn, and make a decision.
The Natural Decision Making Process
Understanding the decision making process for people is the first step in understanding why blogging is so important to getting your business into the hands of the people it will help most.
There are three steps people go through during the decision process, this is the case regardless of if they are purchasing a product, or a service.
These steps are:
- Awareness: Recognizing & Beginning to Understand A Problem They Have That Your Product or Service Solves for The Potential Client or Customer (What, Why)
- Consideration: Gathering Information & Researching the Potential Solutions They Need to Solve Their Problem (Price, Time, Who, How, Why)
- Decision: Getting on a Discovery Call, Talking with Other People About Your Services or Products, and Making the Decision to Purchase Your Product or Service (Actively Ready to Solve the Problem and Choosing Which Company to Go With)
Delight is the Last & Ultimate Goal for Client Retention:
- Delight: Evaluating Your Product or Service Provided After the Fact (Google Business Listings are a GREAT Place to Leave Reviews)
Each of these steps carries an emotional impact on your consumer, from weighing the pros and cons of using your product or service, to cost analysis and finally taking the plunge and purchasing.
By operating a blog with incredible content about your products, services and sharing knowledge about your field you are providing everything a potential client needs to go through their decision making process as easy as possible. If you have content organized well too, it will 100% help you with your organic SEO, which means more people can find you, and the solutions you offer in a google search.
Provide Quality and AUTHENTIC Content
“I’m not a writer, how do you expect me to write and operate a blog?” The truth is you don’t have to be an incredible writer to manage a blog because you are already an expert in what your business provides, and hot to solve problems with your service or product, and what information your audience needs quick access to.
If you start sharing your expertise in an intentional way, and an authentic way it will only benefit your business.
For example, if you sell gluten-free products for those suffering from celiac disease, you may write a blog about what to look for in labels to ensure it’s gluten free. When a potential customer searches for help with reading gluten-free labels and they come across your blog, you not only have gluten-free products, but also informative articles that help your potential client solve their problem.
By managing a blog that is informative, useful and easy to read and understand you are providing quality problem solving, information, and products all in one place.
The most important part of providing quality content in your blogs is to remember there is no pressure to be something you are not. Remaining authentic to who you are and what your business represents is what really matters and helps potential clients get what they need and want from your articles and in the long run your services or products.
Our best advice is to write your articles in the same tone that you would share the same information with a potential client over the phone or in person.
Keep Your Customers Coming Back for More
You’ve got your blog up and running, and you’ve mastered quality content that helps consumers through the decision making process, but blogs are used for so much more than just bringing in potential clients. Blogging is actually a great way to keep your clients coming back for more.
By continuing to write content and share it over different social media platforms, you are bringing traffic to your website and continuing to be a source of knowledge for your customers who need it most. It’s about building the trust with your audience, and empowering them to use you as the resource they need in your area of expertise.
For example, someone who needed guidance on professional carpet cleaning in Utah last month may need tips on how to keep their carpets looking freshly cleaned, in-between cleanings.
Being a consistent source of information for your clients will keep them coming back time and time again. Pro Tip: Schedule out your blog topics for a minimum of three months by brainstorming what your clients need the most information on, then provide it! Bite this process down so that you have topics planned at once, outline all the articles, and then write one at a time. This will make your time more efficient and effective.
Blogging Helps Your Google Rankings When Done Correctly
With many things on the internet you have to go viral to be found, this is not the case with google rankings and blogging. There are key strategies to implement to help your website rank higher and stay relevant, and yes, blogging is one of those.
Providing a blog on your website that is full of keywords relevant to your topics helps google rank you as a subject matter expert.
As an example, if you own a personal injury attorney’s office you may want to rank higher on google for hit and runs, by providing multiple blogs with information on hit and runs, and utilizing important keywords, Google will recognize you as a subject matter expert and make your website and your blogs easily found by those searching for hit and runs.
The key thing here is to also focus on topic clusters so that you have both pages (longer-form content) connected to blogs, and blogs connected to pages. You want a minimum of 5 internal links on every blog post to either other blog posts of similar topics, or back to the main page.
THE PROCESS CAN BE SIMPLE
Writing blogs doesn’t have to take endless hours. When you have a system you can write all your blogs, and use those blogs in various forms of content over time (Social media posts, video content, newsletters, and more.
So with 2-3 hours a month, you can get 3 months planned, and at least 2 articles written.
- Start by brain dumping what topics and ideas you think would be helpful. (Take 30 minutes max.)
- Pick a Topic and then outline each blog article. (10 Minutes per Article)
- Take 30 minutes and Write the Article (Shoot for 800-1000 words)
- Then have someone else or even the free version of Grammarly check it for spelling.
- Publish the blog, throw in a featured image, and make sure to remember internal and external links, share it on social media, in your newsletter, and with your customers. (You can even hire a VA to publish these for you.)
When you have a system like anything else important in your business, it gets to be easy, and extremely valuable for your customers, potential clients, and even for yourself!
As you can see, blogging is still a very relevant part of the way businesses connect with potential clients and get their information, products, and services into the hands of the people who need it most.
By providing a strong blog that remains authentic to who you are and what your business does you are essentially building the best online resume to draw in stronger and long lasting business relationships. Blogging helps make your business easily found online, and helps potential clients go through their natural decision making process.
If you aren’t currently operating a blog on your website, and your goal is more organic inquiries, let’s talk! If you are blogging and it’s taking you tons of time, or you feel like it’s not really helping you rank for your area of expertise, there is an easier way.
Our team of experienced marketing and business development professionals are here to help you to take your business to levels you never thought possible. We have written over 1000 articles in our time, and have helped over 100 business professionals find an easier way to write articles and blogs.
If you want some help, or to learn more about blogging the best place to start is with a free discovery call, and we can talk about what you specifically need to be successful with your marketing, SEO, and ultimately your business growth.