According to Hubspot, from 2009 to 2011, the percentage of businesses with blogs grew from 48% to 65%. 85% of businesses rated their blogs to be important, useful or critical. A staggering 27% said their blogs are critical to their business (because of the reasons below). If all these numbers aren’t enough to convince you to jump on the blog band wagon, and I’m not expecting them to be enough, then here are five specific reasons why your business should consider developing a blog.

Improves SEO
When creating useful content remember blogs, aside from your website, are the best way to build SEO. If you are staying on topic and writing about different aspects of your industry and what your business does, then keywords should come naturally. Your blog should be filled with keywords that relate back to the mission of your company. Building SEO will build notoriety, drive traffic back to your website, and generate leads. Keyword loading/stuffing looks odd on your web page because it seems redundant to the human reader, but blog articles are specific to a topic so keyword loading/stuffing is natural and the spiders evaluate these articles as valuable. Additionally, the blog allows you to have content for distribution through your other social media outlets. Use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+ to distribute your content consistent with your social media strategy.

Humanize your Brand
Blogging is another social media platform, part of your social media strategy. It is a tool used to connect with your consumers in an informal setting. Blogs allow employees to be open and honest about their passion for the industry and the company they work for. Consumers always appreciate an honest and genuine voice coming from a business. Finding this honest and genuine voice comes from listening to consumers, then responding to their questions and concerns through the content you post on your blog.

Promotion of Products and Services
Just like on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter social media strategies, follow the 80/20 rule. Post informative content 80% of the time, but for 20% of the time it is okay to use your blog as a place to promote a new product or service. Blogs are a great platform to continue a social media campaign.

Brings Trust and Credibility to your Business
Through posting valuable, informative content for the reader, you are instilling credibility and most importantly, trust into your company. Posting useful content to your blog is a great way to prove that you know what you’re talking about and you have looked through your consumer’s eyes in order to answer the questions they have. Building credibility and trust generates leads and in turn, more business.

Demonstrates Industry Expertise
Blogs allow businesses and industry experts to show the world that they are in fact experts. This is your chance to post valuable content around your industry. Posting content that is informative and useful to your reader will lead to repurposing your content which, leads to a larger audience which, in turn gives you potential new clients.

Five Key Takeaways for Why you Should Start a Blog:S.J.Hemley Marketing

  1. Posting valuable content for your reader demonstrates your expertise on your industry
  2. Blogs are an ample opportunity to use keywords in order to generate SEO
  3. Blogs allow you to develop a voice for your company and connect with consumers
  4. Great platform for your company to carry out a social media campaign, promoting a product or service
  5. Posting valuable content while, humanizing the voice of your company will generate a sense of trust and develop credibility

About S.J.Hemley Marketing
S.J.Hemley Marketing is a marketing and sales consulting firm focused on driving tangible results for professional services firms. Brand matters, but not without ROI. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience within staffing and recruiting, we have helped to drive successful branding, sales training, lead generation activities as well as defining marketing strategy for top organizations.