6 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Blog

I know what you’re thinking.

Blogs are dead. Blogs are a waste of time. Only people who hide in closets or basements blog.

Well, hold on a second. Blogging is still relevant. It’s still a proven tool to help you expose your business to a broader audience, form connections, and ultimately attract more paying customers.

The trick (and the hard part) isn’t exactly what you’re blogging about, but how you’re blogging. Believe it not, blogging is its own artform and has its own style.

There’s a difference between blogging for business versus pleasure. It’s also different from writing a novel or writing in your journal. So if there’s an art to blogging, what makes a great blog? We’ll get into that in a future blog post because first, let’s get into why your business actually needs a blog.

In my books, a blog for your biz should do four things:

• Teach your readers something
• Build trust with your readers
• Show a more personal or in-depth side of yourself and your business
• Help fuel your marketing efforts

Now let’s dig deeper. Why does your business really need a blog? Here are six honest reasons why:

1. Your Own Spotlight to Showcase Your Biz

Starting a blog for your business is like having a virtual open house. The spotlight’s suddenly on you, your business, and it’s up to you to wow and dazzle your audience.

Through blogging, people get a sneak peak of the inner workings of your biz, your personality, and what you really value and stand for. They get a glimpse of your knowledge or expertise before they buy your product or service—and that’s pretty valuable.

Because if people like what they see (or in this case, read) it increases your chance of that person making a purchase, a commitment. When you blog and share helpful content, it’s also an opportunity to start genuine conversations. You can help people understand what you do and answer any questions.

Without ever meeting someone, you can build trust with them right away if they see value in your blog posts.

In a post by Hubspot, stats say that by 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationships without talking to a human.

Consumers are smart these days and most will research online before they decide to make a purchase or work with someone. What if there’s barely any information about you or your business? They’re likely to move on to someone who has a stronger online presence.

Which is why a blog is still important. It’s an easy way for people to hear about you, and learn about your business when your website has a blog.

Remember, you deserve to be in the spotlight and so does your biz. So let it shine.

2. A Glimpse of Your Human Side

People still buy from people.

In other words, if someone connects with your business story, and can relate to it in someway, you create a special connection with that person or customer. It makes your customer feel like you understand them, like you can help them.

Blogging requires you to be human, to be real with your audience. Again, this builds trust when someone knows you can empathize and that you’re not a robot. So feel free to get a little more casual, reveal bits about yourself, show the “behind the scenes” of your biz.

Don’t try to impress your ideal crowd by using chunky corporate words or industry lingo (unless you know that’s truly what they’re into). Be yourself because blogging starts with the heart.

3. You Become a Resource

On top of showing the world how unique and awesome you’re biz is, creating connections, etc. there’s still one key factor why you business needs a blog. So what is it?

Providing value to your ideal clientele.

A blog is an online space where you can share your expertise and help other people.

Now you might be thinking, why should I give away my knowledge for free? Especially when blogging takes up a lot of time and mental effort.

Here’s how. If you give people something useful, something that will help them solve a problem, they’re gonna want to come back for more. People will start believing in what you have to say, and you become the go-to place when they’re faced with an issue.

Think about it. Say there’s a nail salon in your community and they blog about cool manicure techniques you can DIY, comparing the latest brands, what their nail technicians have to say, and sneakily throwing in promotional info.

Let’s say you’re mesmerized by a blog post on ombre nails but can’t for the life of you, DIY your nails yourself. So what do you do instead? You book an appointment. Because you trust the salon can do this technique since their blog posts show they know what they’re doing.

Plus, maybe you like the look and feel of the salon because of how personable the nail techs are when they’re featured in a blog post. Maybe you already know who you want to book an appointment with because of your mutual interest in corgis and beer yoga.

By exposing your biz and creating helpful content, you earn the “street cred” you want and build a loyal fan base.

4. Content is King & Sharing is Caring

Are you struggling to be consistent on social media? Do you have trouble figuring out what to say in a Facebook post, tweet, or Instagram caption? I do, and so do millions of other businesses out there.

The good news is that when you blog, you’re creating content. Content that can be broken down and shared across all your other social media platforms.

For example, you can use the first couple of paragraphs from your blog post for your Facebook post. Then, pop the link in at the end so your readers can read the rest on your website.

Or, you can pull your best sentences from your blog post and use them as tweets while linking back to your website, blog post, etc.

Blogging fuels your content for social media and let’s other people share your stuff too. In the end, it’s a win-win situation for your social media and your reputation.

5. Search Engines Love You More

On the slightly more technical side, search engines like Google and Yahoo love it when a website is regularly updated.

And the easiest way to keep updating your website? By posting consistently through a blog.

New content gives these search engines something to do, which is a good thing. People are more likely to find you when they search for your service or product.

Blogs also increase the amount of people visiting your website. Never a bad thing, right? Because if you’re sharing your blog posts on social media, people are bound to check out the rest of your website and what you do.

6. Focus, Goals, Relevance

By creating content on your blog on a regular basis, you’re staying focused on your larger biz goals too.

Blogging keeps you on your toes and over time you’ll become a leader in your topic.

How? Because blogging requires research and staying on top of trends, competition, etc. Not only are you benefiting your audience by blogging, but you’re also helping yourself learn and discover new information.