Of all the tools in your toolkit, from email marketing to social media what’s the value of blogging as a marketing tool? Big value, as it turns out. Because blogging is one of the best ways to churn out new content on your website on a regular basis, and new content is seen favorably by the search engines.
The value of new content for search engines
New content means the search engine “spiders” will come “crawl” your page after you’ve put out new content, then evaluate your content and serve it up on the search engine results pages (SERPs). Frequently publishing new content shows the search engines that your business is active, that you have expertise to offer, and that your site is worth coming back to.
If you don’t have a blog, it’s easy for a business website to become stale quickly. Think about the kinds of content that goes on a standard business site. You have a list of services and maybe individual service pages for each. You may have some client testimonials or case studies and an about page with team or partner information. There may be additional navigation unique to your company or industry. Other than that, most websites don’t have new content on a regular basis unless you’re introducing a new product or service.
Publishing a blog once a week can bring freshness to your website and invite search engine crawls on a regular basis, which can help your blog pages—and indirectly, your other web pages—rank higher on the SERPs.
The brand-building power of blogs
Brand building is another way blogging works as a marketing tool. Think about the way you consume content on the web. You search for information on a topic, you find a blog post with some easy to skim and read information. Sometimes it’s posted on a site that you’re familiar with, sometimes it’s a site that’s new to you. Then when you go to search up similar information and that site comes up again, you become more acquainted with the name of that website.
Perhaps you decide to sign up for the newsletter on that website because you like the reliable, useful information they provide. The blog itself is helping to build the company brand because of the trustworthiness of the content. You may not ever become a customer of that brand, but you like the information they provide.
So how does that help the brand?
Because you have returned to the website multiple times and consumed the blog content, the search engines recognize this behavior and reward the website by improving its page rankings in the SERPs.
Not every blog reader is a customer, but every blog reader is valuable, nonetheless.
Blogging as top-of-funnel marketing strategy
Top-of-funnel is what most users are who come to your website for the first time. Rarely does someone convert to being a customer right away. Instead, they hear about you because of a social media post or a YouTube video or a paid ad. They happen to check out your website. Maybe they come back a few times and decide to sign up for your email updates. Eventually they move down through the funnel and decide to call for a consultation.
As a top-of-funnel strategy, blogging can be an excellent marketing tool. It draws readers in by providing them with information on topics they’re interested in. It allows you to show off your expertise in certain areas. It also drives relevant traffic to your website, which gets the attention of search engines.
Search engines notice whether people are finding your content useful and coming back for more. The search engines reward your blog content by ranking it higher on the search result pages. Your blog content indirectly helps your other web pages perform better and your overall website gains greater credibility and trustworthiness as a go-to, reliable source of information people are searching.
But what if blogging is beyond your marketing capabilities?
Understandably, businesses need to focus on what’s sustainable when it comes to marketing efforts. Not every business has the staff or content writing capability to develop and post blogs on a regular basis. Consistency is key when it comes to creating an editorial calendar and delivering content because after all, if you start putting it out there for people to consume, they’ll come to expect it!
If you need help with blogging on your industry topics and areas of expertise, let us know. We have expert content creators who can help you develop strategic blog content that speaks your business. Talk to us.
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