A Blog about Blogging {Guest Blog, Camille Blyth from Brilliant Business Blogging}

16 years ago not all businesses had a website. In fact many businesses weren’t sure they even needed a website – crazy, right! Imagine trying to run a successful business today with no website?

Creating – and maintaining – a business blog for your company has now become de rigueur; an essential component of your online marketing, the purpose behind your social strategy and a key credibility driver.

Let’s take a closer look at what a blog, backed by a documented strategy will give you – and what you get for not doing it:

SEO
To be frank, the opportunity to rise to page one of Google for free must be one of the most compelling reasons for companies to create and publish their own content. The more competitive your niche is, the more important this will become. How many of your competitors have a healthy blog? How do they compare with your own blog?

What if I don’t blog?
In regard to SEO, not blogging will cost you.
• It will cost you if you choose to pay for SEO (anywhere from around $500/month)
• It will cost you customers – not everyone looks at the paid Google listings, the majority of people look at the links below the paid ads, and the chances are, you are not there
• It will cost your reputation – while not everyone will read your posts when they visit your site, they will check to see that you have an up-to-date, relevant blog – if you don’t have a blog, people ask, “are they really serious about their business?”.

As SEO expert Sean Rooney from Amire in Sydney says:
“Companies that blog on a regular basis typically attract over 50% more traffic than companies that don’t. It’s a basic expectation by site users in today’s digital world, why wouldn’t you?”

Site Traffic
Every business owner knows – exposure = more traffic = more clients. A well-crafted blog post, on a topic which is relevant to your target audience can be far more valuable than paid advertising. The whole point of blogging is to increase awareness of your brand, your skills, services and products. Creating content and broadcasting it on the right social channels will bring new people to you site – the more regularly you post, the more people will come.

What if I don’t blog
You probably spent some time effort and money on building your website – but it is like building a road, and never having a single car drive along it. People use the internet to discover, research and find the things they need. If they can’t easily find you, the chances of them accidentally stumbling upon your site are slim to none.

“Small businesses who blog receive 126% more leads than those who don’t.“
Hubspot

Credibility
Content builds credibility. When you look at the LinkedIn profile of someone who has posted more than 50 blog articles, either consciously or unconsciously you think “they know what they are talking about” because really, you can’t write that many posts if you don’t know your own business.

As business becomes more competitive, credibility has become an essential part of your ‘business make-up’. A company blog is a foundation stone in building credibility.

What if I don’t blog
The harsh reality is this – if your competitors have a strong content strategy they will automatically be seen as more credible than those who don’t. Social media channels filled with links to other sites, and a website menu without ‘blog’ tab all leave your audience wondering if you are truly ‘open for trade’ or not.

The Internet is awash with statistics and figures proving that businesses who dedicate time and energy for a content strategy and content creation are more successful than those who don’t.

To paraphrase a Chinese proverb, “The best time to start your company blog is 5 years ago. The second best time is now.”

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BIO
Camille Blyth from Brilliant Business Blogging has been helping businesses discover and create the right content to attract the right clients for 5 years. Download her free Content Creation Super-Guide and start your blog now.

Camille also collaborated with Spicy’s own Sarah in our July ‘fun shop’ about maximising the user experience of your website. For a little sneak peak into our UX workshop, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2LaWWxspZo