Running a business requires an incredible amount of stamina and drive. If you’re a small business with fewer than 10 employees it can be even harder to manage your business (employees, contractors, finances, client relationships, etc.). You have to continue doing the work that pays you and then you also need to allocate time to bring in new clients.
Often small business owners fall into one category or another. You are either very good at sales – bringing in new clients – but don’t love the actual project work. Or, you are exceptional on the project side of the business, but can’t stand to bring in clients or do the admin work that’s necessary to even get paid by the clients you have. However, if you stop finding new clients, you may wake up one day without any work. To keep the work and money flowing, it’s imperative that a small business focuses on sales and marketing.
While many marketing strategies are costly, time-consuming, and may not pay off for many months, a blog is something that can help a small business grow its client list.
Why Your Small Business Should Have a Blog
Before you start to resist this, just remember that you can outsource your blog to someone else. Also, not every post needs to be a 1,000-plus words of intellectual content. For now, we can focus on 8 reasons why your small business should have a blog.
1. It’s Affordable
Other than the time to write the blog and pay for a nice stock photo, blogging is really inexpensive. If you write your own blogs, they will maybe cost you a few hours of time.
2. It Will Improve SEO
You could pay Google to have your site at the top of the search rankings but studies show that people actually care more about organic listings that are top-ranked. If you want to rank higher, then a good way to do so is to increase the number of pages that are indexed by Google. Google will see that you are keeping your website up to date with relevant information.
3. Get People To Return To Your Site
When you look at your Google Analytics, you should pay attention to how many new and returning visitors you’ve had.
New visitors are great since that means that something about you, your product, or your service has caught their attention. But return visitors are even better. That means there’s something on your website that has given them a reason to return; a blog is usually that reason.
4. Establish Authority
Blogs establish and reinforce credibility and authority. You website might talk about how much of an authority you are, but a blog might describe a client relationship or how your service or product helped someone or solved a problem. Those stories demonstrate your expertise and authority in your niche.
5. Add Value
Blogs add value to the website experience. Visitors and your customers see this as a value-added – you can become a reliable source for interesting and helpful information.
6. Increase Visibility
A regular blog (at least two posts per month) can do a great job of increasing your visibility. If your target clients are looking for your products or services, your blog might be what leads them directly to you. The more content you create, the more content you will have to share around social media and include in upcoming newsletters.
7. Establish a Genuine Connection
Good clients and business partners usually come about as a result of establishing a genuine connection between you. Your blog and website is the perfect place to set the tone for your brand identity and for you as the person they are going to eventually work with. Your blog is a great place to establish your voice and begin to make those genuine connections through your content.
8. More Conversion Opportunities
As you create more blog posts, the locations where there are calls to action increase exponentially and that translates to more lead-generating opportunities for your business.