Blogging is one of the most important ways to connect with your audience.
When blogging first became popular on the web, it was mainly used as a fun, new way for people to share their own individual thoughts across the internet. Some blogs were created for the purpose of connecting with an outside audience, while others were simply used as an outlet to express a person’s own daily thoughts and feelings. But, in the last 10 years, blog posts have come a long way from simply sharing what you had to eat for dinner or telling stories about your kids and pets. Blogs have become a necessary staple for nearly every website across the web, especially those in the business world. This is because blogging for your business site, especially for service businesses, can go a long way towards establishing your expertise in your industry AND connecting with your clients on a more personal level.
Become An Expert In Your Industry
Think about it ― let’s say you are a consumer who is thinking about getting into jogging and you need a new pair of running shoes. Before you make your purchase, there are a lot of different elements that you have to consider first:
- Fit: Is this the best fit of shoe for me? Do I need a specific type of fit for the activity I am doing?
- Style: Is this the most trendy style that is in right now? What is most important, style or comfort?
- Performance: What was the primary reason this shoe was created? Does the performance fit best with the activity I am performing?
If you don’t know a lot of this information yourself, would you rather go to a company who can tell you why each of these factors is important, tell you about your different options, AND offer you their expertise on each of their products, or would you rather go to a company who only offers you the price of the shoe? Most customers want to go with whoever knows the most about the products and services that they are being sold. Blogging for your business helps you establish that you are that expert in your industry, whether you’re sharing information about the latest industry reports and data, talking about new technology that may impact your products and services, or even talking about unique ways which your consumers can utilize your business in their day-to-day life.
Create A Personable Relationship With Your Audience
Blogging is also a great channel for you to connect with your audience on a more personal level and put a personality behind your brand. When a consumer knows more about the background of your products and feels a personal connection to your company, they are more likely to buy from your brand. This is why we feel an overwhelming sense of brand loyalty to some of our favorite sodas, search engines or coffee shops. We like what we know about the company behind the products, so we will continue to support them by giving them our business. For service professionals, blogging is also a great tool for diving into some of your complex services and giving future customers a little more understanding of what your company is offering. Even the most in-depth, complicated services can be written about in a light and conversational way in order to connect with a larger audience that may have trouble understanding.
Blog With SEO In Mind
When paired with SEO, blogging can also help to bring in a whole new group of targeted consumers to your business. While you want to focus on high quality and engaging content, you should also put emphasis on ensuring that target words are being searched through in-depth keyword research. This keyword research allows you to identify what people are looking for to find your products or services and to lead them to your website. Using the same example about “running shoes” above, most of your consumers searching the web for “running shoes” may also search for other relevant keywords such as “running shoes for high arches,” “lightweight running shoes” or “marathon running shoes.” These terms can bring additional traffic to your site and attract a bigger piece of the search engine pie. To learn more about using SEO keywords, be sure to check out our previous blog post on The Top 5 SEO Tips for Internet Marketing. Also be sure to leave a comment below letting us know whether or not you are blogging for your business, and what kind of impact you feel it has on your relationship with your audience.
