Blog marketing is much like managing a business’s website or social media page in that everyone does it, but few do it well.

As of 2020, there are more than 500 million blogs on the world wide web. We can’t speak to how many of these bloggers are doing a good job, but we do know that there’s limited real estate on the first page of online search results.

And with studies revealing that 61% of online consumers make a purchase after reading blog recommendations, investing in this form of content marketing has become a must for businesses.

But conversion rates are just one of the many reasons why blogging is now widely accepted as part of what makes a good website. Here are some others:

Benefits of Blogging for Businesses

1. Increase Reach and Awareness

One of the main reasons brands add blogs to their content strategy is to boost search engine optimization (SEO). Once posted, search engines crawl your blogs and turn them into indexed pages that can rank for matching search queries.

By incorporating SEO best practices like keywords, strong headlines, meta descriptions and other structured data into your blogging strategy, you can improve your search engine results page ranking.

Why does this matter?

Because it’s how your website gets seen. The higher your blog posts rank on search engines, the more organic traffic you’ll get.

You have to commit to blogging regularly before you’ll see significant SEO results, but once you’ve posted 24 to 51 blog posts, you’ll start to see traffic increase by up to 30%. This growth continues the more you post relevant content.

You can also share blog posts to social media and further drive traffic to your site. If someone shares your post, even more eyes will find their way to your page.

2. Instill a Sense of Community

If you redefine your content marketing goals in terms of building a brand community, your business will prosper. This is because creating a sense of connection between your audience encourages engagement and greater consumer loyalty.

But communities exist to serve all of the people involved, not just the one they’re following. Successful businesses know this and ensure that they’re creating quality content that adds some sort of value to consumers’ lives. If you’re not doing this, no one is going to care to interact with, let alone read, your blog posts.

Once you’ve created a post worth discussing, encourage community engagement by allowing comments on the blog itself, sharing to social media and asking consumers what they think. Communication is a two-way street.

3. Gain Authority and Trust

Anyone can say they blog, but your website will lose its relevance if you’re not continually posting new content. Alternatively, when you commit to a regular posting schedule – posting solid, accurate blog content – you showcase your expertise.

It also opens the door for guest blogging on popular sites and having trusted professionals guest blog for yours. On a smaller but just as significant scale, you can now give and earn quality backlinks from and to those reliable sources. This not only increases your reach and SEO, but amplifies your image as a thought leader, and above all, a trusted source.

And as a trusted source, more people are willing to buy your product or service and recommend it to others.

An added bonus: Many of these authority building tactics double as networking opportunities to grow your professional web and gain new partners and resources. And the more you post, the more others will discover your content, see you as an expert and invite you to participate in industry events.

4. Sell Your Brand

From truncated text on social copy to character limits for ads, you don’t get a lot of opportunities to share your brand voice through long-form writing. Blogging does just that, so your audience has the chance to get a sense of who you are.

The long-form nature of blog writing also makes it a great place to share narratives that emphasize your brand values and successes, from customer stories to philanthropic efforts.

When you combine these aspects of voice and storytelling, you become more personal and memorable, and memorable brands profit.

5. Generate Leads for Conversion

Sure, most businesses blog. But most fail to go that extra mile by turning their blog into a lead-generating revenue stream. And it is possible.

Of B2B marketers alone, those with blogs earn 67% more leads than those without.

You can generate leads with your blog marketing by adding an email signup form. You already know that the users reading your blog have an interest in your content and offerings on some level, making them great candidates.

And in their inbox, you get to grab their attention on their turf, growing your brand’s top of mind awareness. Develop an email marketing campaign that continues to add value, and you can gradually nurture them into a buy-ready state.

6. Learn About Your Audience

Any decent marketer knows the value of clean customer data. Using your blog’s analytics, you can learn useful information about your target audience to guide your marketing strategies.

By looking into the types of content users are most interested in, you gain a deeper understanding of what problems resonate with them. Use this to guide your content topics, improve sales copy and generate new product or service ideas moving forward.

You can also look into the times your users are active and adjust your marketing schedules to be more effective.

Then there’s something to be said for the qualitative data you can obtain by permitting comments on blogs and engaging with your audience wherever you share them. Reading through viewer responses can provide valuable audience insight and reveal unexpected sentiment towards your content.

7. Long-Lasting Results

For many, blogging is intimidating because it’s a heavy time investment. It’s easy to forget that blogs have a big advantage over other forms of promotion: They’re long-lasting. Once written, they take minimal maintenance, and they stay up until you take them down.

And the whole time your blog is up, it can bring people in. As long as your blog posts remain relevant content, they can generate leads years after their initial posting.

Should Your Business Use Blog Marketing

If you’re wondering whether your website should have a blog, let’s cut to the chase: It should. Every business has something to talk about, and even those you may least expect, like restaurants, can benefit from blog marketing.

Regardless of what products or services you offer, consider how a blog can bring you closer to your customers. The benefits of SEO alone will bring more people through your doors (literally and figuratively).

Additionally, blogging is a great way for start-ups to improve awareness and trust around their offerings. This is because it’s a surefire way to connect with relevant audiences and establish authority within a niche. That’s also why for competitive and fast-changing industries, like tech or medicine, blogging is a must.

Onboard with the benefits but don’t know where to start? You can find the answers you need in our ultimate guide to business blogging.