Unless you have been under a rock these past 3 or 4 years than you absolutely have heard about how critical a blog is to your website and your business.
You’ve heard that it will pull in targeted, interested traffic that converts. You’ve heard that it will help you build a brand and a reputation for yourself that is unparalleled and more importantly, irreplaceable. You’ve heard that it is the key to building a responsive email list full of eager buyers just waiting to hear from you every day…
… And I’m here to tell you that this is absolutely true. All of it. Every single last bit.
Why Having A Blog Is Critical
If you still aren’t convinced that having a blog is important – I can understand your skepticism. When I first started out with building websites and trying to get traffic to them, I thought blogs were just for trendy hipsters with some social or politic message to spread. I couldn’t be more wrong.
The fact is that a blog is the best tool you can have in your marketing arsenal. There is nothing that you can ever buy that will replace it. There is nothing you will ever find that will compliment your goals, no matter what they are, as well as a fully function and interactive blog will.
In fact, without a blog I’m not entirely sure what you or your business is doing online at all… I’m sure that sounds harsh but let me give you some reasons for understanding why a blog is so critical to what you do online.
Reasons Your Website Needs A Blog
SEO and Search Engine Traffic
Your are going to want to actually have people come to your site and see what you have to say or what you are offering to them. There are a few ways you can get traffic to your site but nothing really beats search engine traffic.
- It’s Free
- It’s Targeted
- It Responds To Your Offers
- It Spreads Your Brand & Message
You can imagine search engine traffic as the life giving nectar to your website. Without a presence in engines like Google and Bing, it will be much harder for people to find your website. If they can’t find you, they can’t buy from you.
But not only is important for people to find you, those people also need to be engaged in what you are doing or what you are offering. Traffic from search engines is the cream-of-the-crop when it comes to being highly engaged and responsive. They already want to know what you have, all you have to do is offer it to them in such a way that they respond to it. Normally speaking a blog is great for providing that kind of presentation that people respond it.
Lastly, it gives you and opportunity to provide visitors with valuable insight or entertainment that they can then go out and want to share with others. This is a huge viral advantage that is too valuable to not pursue. You’ve got to take this golden opportunity and embrace it. A blog is your best opportunity to give people something to share about who you are and what you have to offer – but only if they can find you to begin with – and that normally happens via a search engine like Google.
So embrace your opportunity to get that free traffic because it’s so incredibly valuable that you will never find a suitable replacement for it.
Become An Industry Influencer
Having a blog with regularly updated information and engaging content will allow you to position yourself as a true expert and leader in your field. You will be able to provide opinions on recent events, education on frequent problems or questions and insights on deeper issues that people may encounter.
Having a blog will give you and your business a voice that nobody will be able to take away from you. It will be your public wall that you get to show your authority on a topic and strut just how well you know a particular topic. You will be able to prove your skill and knowledge one post at a time and eventually may become the ‘Go-To’ resource for information whenever someone has a question.
Consider for a moment how many people consider Wikipedia to be a great value and authority on so many topics. As great as wikipedia is, it can’t often get into the knitty-gritty details of some topics, but with your blog you can. You can really specialize in something and make it your own.
That’s the kind of influence that is genuine and that you can create for yourself without relying on luck or someone else to provide it for you.
A Blog Will Help You Develop Relationships
One of the best things about having a blog on your website is that people can comment on your posts. They can ask questions, or tell you how helpful it was or how much they enjoyed what you had to share.
This is really critical because it allows you to have a forum with potential customers. Let’s say that you are offering a product that your blog post talks about. If someone has a question – they can leave it in a comment and you can respond to it. While that’s a great two way back and forth communication, it’s even better because anyone that comes across that page in the future will see the question and answer so they won’t have to ask you again. In addition, it shows you care about your blog’s readers.
Now the same thing goes for when they tell you how great or helpful your post was. Everyone that comes across that page in the future will get to see how great people think it is and it does more to make you look like and industry leader and authority on the topic. It’s just great for your public image.
Lastly, sometimes people’s comments will give your great ideas for topics to talk about in the future or what needs to be covered in more detail. They are a fantastic feedback mechanism for your own improvement and desire to become more influential and improve your services or products.
So What’s Stopping You?
You now have some really great reasons to start a blog on your website.
Do you think it’s too difficult? It’s not. In fact it’s pretty easy to run a blog. There are various guides showing you how to get started. The only tip I would have for you there is to make sure that you are consistent with your effort. If you stop posting, people will stop checking back and your readership will dwindle. But if you are consistent and post updates regularly, people will keep coming back to see what you have to say and in all likelihood will be more inclined to share it with others which will only grow your influence and potential customer base.
So get out there and get a blog going already!