If you’ve recently created a website for your business, you’ve likely only seen a trickle of visitors. Don’t be discouraged—you’re not going to see explosive traffic numbers right away. You need to lure people in, and creating a blog is a great way to do that.
Blogging for business is a content marketing tactic in which a company creates content related to its product or service to improve its online visibility. But visibility isn’t the only thing you stand to gain; in fact, business blogging is so valuable that it is a top priority for 53% of marketers. This post will discuss the many benefits blogging can bring to a business, no matter what your business model, and give you some tips for how to start a blog and create an impactful digital marketing strategy, as well as critical digital distribution strategies around it.
Ready to create a blog? Get started with Wix.
Want to get blogging now? Get started with Wix today.
The benefits of blogging for business
Blogging for business can strengthen your company in these ways:
01. Increase website traffic
Business blogging increases the number of pages on your company website, thereby expanding its online presence and providing more avenues for potential customers to find you. One study found that businesses that blog have 55% more website visitors than those that don’t. The more website traffic you get, the more you’ll reach potential customers who will likely book, purchase or fill out a contact form to stay in touch. It can also give you the competitive advantage against competitors who don't have a blog.
Consider Make Pop Music—a Wix website that sells production presents—as an example. When looking through the business’s Wix Analytics, we noticed that this blog article had the second highest traffic volume after the homepage. After popping the link into the Ahrefs site explorer, we understood why—it had the top spot on the search engine results page (SERP) for “studio desk setup,” a keyword that averages 150 searches per month. The site explorer also revealed that the post’s high search traffic made it the second most valuable page on the site after the homepage.
02. Drive conversions
Blogging doesn’t immediately pay off for businesses in the way that advertising and specifically online advertising does; most corporate blogs don’t see a positive ROI until they’ve been blogging consistently for 6 to 12 months. That said, blogs gain potency as they grow which means that they have a longer lifespan than ads. In fact, 56% of marketers say that blogging is effective and 10% say that a blog has the biggest return on investment of all marketing strategies.
To take full advantage of that potential, Ivory Paper Co. shares one of its blog posts at the top of the homepage. The article links to nine of the company’s planners and—as we can see in the “top navigation flows” report below—successfully leads site visitors to product pages.
Adding clear and actionable call-to-actions (CTA's) to blog posts is a crucial part of blogging for business and optimizing content for conversions.
03. Contribute to social media efforts
If you only use your social media accounts as free ad space, you’re missing a huge opportunity. Social media marketing can improve customer retention, as it keep businesses top-of-mind for interested consumers, and build brand awareness. To reap those benefits, you need to share valuable content that makes consumers want to follow you. Your blog posts (or microblogging efforts) will (ideally) contain information that will interest your target audience, so just reshape your content to fit the feed. For example, you could turn the most valuable morsels in your blog posts into social media graphics for Instagram or LinkedIn. On average, small businesses that blog have 79% more Twitter followers than those that don’t.
04. Builds trust in client relationships
People trust what is familiar. Blogging gives customers the opportunity to learn more about your company than they could from an ad or a landing page. A blog gives you a platform, a type of website, to answer frequently asked questions and share company news. Plus, sharing high-quality content shows your target market what you know about your industry, so they can trust you to provide a quality product or service. A blog can work as a part of your customer relationship management plans and help you build both credibility and authority in different areas. If you're thinking of starting a business, or taking an existing one to the next level, taking up blogging for business could prove impactful.
Quixotic Design Co. uses its blog to demonstrate that it knows how to scale businesses with strategic design. For example, Why your website isn't making you money explains how companies can use visual hierarchies and cues to drive conversions. By sharing such an article, the agency simultaneously offers a free resource and demonstrates its value to potential customers. And it starts with learning how to create a website.
05. Reinforces your brand
A blog gives you almost unlimited space to deepen your brand identity. Take Bonny for example—this creative agency uses its blog to emphasize its niche as content creators for lifestyle brands. With catchy titles like # StayHomeStayInspired and Boost Your Superpowers – 3 Best Healing Stones for Busy People, the agency shows that it can create content that appeals to a lifestyle brand’s audience.
06. Differentiates a business from its competition
It can be difficult to show customers how your business offers more than your competitors—especially when your product or service isn’t flashy or easily accessible. For instance, a customer needs to actively research which SEO tool is actually the most effective for them. To deal with that challenge, Ahrefs built a comprehensive blog that shares valuable tips for analyzing data. When relevant, the blog posts feature step-by-step Ahrefs tutorials, a clever way of marketing the product in a way that is beneficial to the reader. A blog helps businesses take advantage of multiple marketing channels.
07. Encourages engagement
Customer engagement reinforces the connections between a brand and its fans, thereby encouraging repeat business and expanding a company’s reach. Whenever a company writes a blog post, they create something that loyal customers can share with people who might have never heard of the company. They also empower their direct marketing efforts - meeting customers where they are.
The Home Depot has shown how potent such a strategy can be. The company blog created a Patio Style Challenge series that encouraged hundreds of influencers to promote The Home Depot on their own channels. The Home Depot took full advantage of all that free content by sharing it on a Pinterest board that has almost 3 million followers.
How to start blogging for business
Now that we’ve established how valuable blogging for business can be, it’s time to create a plan for your business blogging that will make good on that value:
01. Determine the focus of your blog
People are most excited to read, share and link to blog posts which cover relevant and specific topics to them. If your target market is people interested in being more eco-friendly, you’d likely benefit from writing a blog post about reusable plastic. This is where keyword research comes in handy, for identifying topics important to your users and brand.
Learn more: How to start a real estate blog
02. Set metrics
Content marketers predominantly use traffic metrics to assess the effectiveness of business blogging but they also look at sales lead quality, sales and conversion rates. You'll need to understand what blog analytics is and how to track important blog metrics, related to traffic and how its generated, and engagement metrics on your content.
Some examples include:
Traffic: Page views, clicks and unique visitors.
Engagement: Comments, social shares and time spent on page.
Conversion rate: Percentage of visitors taking a desired action.
Bounce rate: Percentage of visitors leaving after viewing one page.
Click-through rate (CTR): Percentage of clicks on links or of clicks through from search engines.
Subscriber growth: Increase in email or RSS subscribers.
Keyword rankings: Search engine positions for targeted keywords.
Social media metrics: Follower growth, likes, and comments on social platforms.
03. Refresh existing content
Although there will be plenty of posts that never even rank, those that do can bring in steady traffic for years after publication. Plus, a low-performing SEO post doesn’t have to stay low performing. Giving articles an occasional refresh can improve their SERP rankings. In fact, content marketing agency Animalz found that refreshing a post improved its performance by 55%.
04. Invest in high-quality blogging tools
As we’ve established, you’ll need to do more than scribbling a few thoughts and hitting publish to make a blog successful. To effectively curate, promote and track the performance of your blog, you’ll need to invest in blogging tools that will best support those efforts.
Tip: Wix not only has blog templates that make designing posts easy, but it also has multiple web analytics tools that’ll help you understand how your blog supports your marketing efforts.
05. Promote your blog
Keeping your readers engaged is just as vital as attracting them. Social media and email marketing are great for promoting your blog and networking with active customers. You might also want to think about link building for your blog, which is the process of earning and generating back links from other online authoritative sources who quote your blog and link to it.
Here are some of the tops ways to promote a blog for business purposes:
Social media: Share posts on social media platforms relevant to your audience.
Email marketing: Send newsletters featuring blog content.
SEO optimization: Optimize content for search engines.
Collaborations: Partner with influencers or other businesses for cross-promotion.
Guest blogging and posting: Write for other relevant blogs to expand your reach. You can ask them to link back to your blog.
Paid advertising: Utilize targeted ads on social media or search engines.
Networking: Engage in industry forums and online communities.
Content distribution: Share blog links in relevant online forums or groups.
Repurposing content: Use existing content and repackage for different channels and audiences.
"Repurposing blog posts into engaging content is an effective way to distribute content and drive website traffic. Understanding where your audience is most active allows you to tailor content accordingly - website content can be repackaged into multiple creative assets to share across your channels, eye-catching images and videos distributed on Instagram and TikTok can capture attention, enticing viewers to visit your website for the full story.' Dor Cohen, Distribution Specialist at Wix.com
06. Establish goals for content creation
The more you publish, the better your blog will likely perform. That said, you must be realistic when deciding how much time and money to spend on your blog. Publishing quality content on a consistent basis will be much easier than trying to pump out as much content as you can as fast as possible. Create an editorial calendar with the articles you want to write and the schedule you intend to stick to. Doing so will not only help you publish consistently, but it’ll also help you track your progress along the way.
Is blogging still a good business?
Blogging is a viable and profitable business for many individuals and businesses. However, the success of a blog as a business depends on various factors, including niche selection, content quality, adaptation to trends and monetization strategies.
Here are some considerations:
Niche selection: Choosing a niche that has a target audience and is not oversaturated can be crucial. Finding a specific area of interest where you have expertise or a unique perspective can help your blog stand out. Blogger and Growth Marketing Expert at Wix.com, Hanna Kimelblat, says, "Blogging is one of the most fun activities you can do, but it could also feel like a chore if you’re not passionate about its content. Turning something you love and know a lot about into blog posts is a great strategy to attract readers: they’ll come for the knowledge, but they’ll stay for your authentic outlook and first-hand experiences."
Quality content: Producing high-quality, valuable and relevant content is key to attracting and retaining readers. Regular updates and maintaining a consistent posting schedule can help build a dedicated audience.
SEO and marketing: Understanding and implementing search engine optimization (SEO) strategies can enhance your blog's visibility in search engine results. Effective marketing through social media, email and other channels is also important to reach a wider audience.
Monetization strategies: There are various ways to monetize a blog, including affiliate marketing, sponsored content, selling digital products or services and displaying ads. Diversifying your income streams can contribute to the sustainability of your blogging business.
Adaptation to trends: Staying informed about industry trends and adapting your content and strategies accordingly is crucial. For example, video content and podcasts have become increasingly popular, and integrating these formats into your blog can be beneficial.
Business niche blogs to consider starting
Blogging for business FAQ
Is blogging a good business idea?
Blogging can be a good business idea for several reasons, but it ultimately depends on various factors such as your niche, dedication, and ability to monetize your blog effectively.