5 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Blog!

Are you still not convinced of the value of business blogging? Are you afraid that you will be wasting your time with no real return on your investment of time? Nothing could be further from the truth. The ROI of business blogging is real and it is measurable. Following are five reasons you need to start blogging for your business NOW.

Community Building 
Business blogging allows you to build a community around your business and identify your most loyal brand advocates. Offering frequently updated information on your business blog gives you the opportunity to engage with your brand's customers in the comments section of your blog and form lasting customer relationships with your readers. In addition to your business' niche-specific content, the comments section of your blog is an excellent opportunity to offer ongoing customer support too.

Lead Capture
Offering free downloads relevant to the content supplied on your business blog is a crucial way to capture leads and move potential customers closer to a sale. Not only are you supplying information your readers are interested in, you are growing your brand's reputation as a knowledgeable source of information. By providing helpful information in exchange for an email address, you make it easier for customers to trust your brand authority and your commitment to an informed public. An important caveat; never jeopardize that trust by spamming your list with unwanted emails.

Blogging Forces You to Remain Knowledgeable
An often overlooked benefit to business blogging is that providing content to your customers on a regular basis forces you to stay up-to-date on current trends within your own industry. You can't rest on your past achievements or offer information that is out-of-date as your competition will likely be the first to point out your shortcomings in the comments section of your blog. Remaining focused on changes within your industry helps you to stay on the cutting edge of technology and industry standards. This industry awareness is essential to remaining one step ahead of your competition.

Blogging Feeds Your Social Media Engine
By creating content for your business blog on a regular basis, you are feeding your social media engine. Having fresh and knowledgeable content to share, gives you unlimited opportunities to re-purpose your content in multiple forms. From images with embedded content quotes for Pinterest and Twitter, to Vine videos or Instagram pics related to your blog posts, the opportunities to cross-promote your business blog are only limited by your imagination.

Search Engines Love Fresh Content
In addition to the above-noted reasons for business blogging, a crucial reason you need to be adding fresh information to your company's blog is to remain current for search engine optimization. If you are stuck for blog post ideas, you can post visual elements like info-graphics or videos to your site to improve the odds of potential customers finding your company's information. Providing information that is helpful to your potential customers not only builds your brand authority but it also creates an evergreen link for search engines. Businesses that blog a minimum of fifteen times a month are five times more likely to achieve a sale as compared to businesses that do not blog at all. Can your business really afford to not be blogging?

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