Why You Should Add A Blog To Your Website

I’m sure you’ve heard countless times that you should have a blog on your website, but if you’re anything like me you won’t want to do something without know why. WHY do I need a blog? It’s a fair question, time is limited when running a business so you need to be sure everything you spend time on is benefiting your business in some way. So let’s dive in…

Why a blog is important for your small business

INCREASE WEBSITE TRAFFIC

Adding a blog to your website is a great way for you to increase traffic to your site.  This is because it is useful new content that you can share online, through your social media channels, to attract your ideal customer to your site.

Not only is it something you can share to link people to your site, but your Google search ranking will increase as your website will have extra content for search engines to trawl and rank.  This is especially useful if you have researched your target market and found out the topics they are searching for online.  You can then be sure to use these words within your blog titles and copy, although this should definitely be done sparingly and should always maintain a natural flow to your writing.

SHOW OFF YOUR KNOWLEDGE

By going more in depth on a topic you are showing your audience that you are an expert in your field.  They will begin to see you as a ‘go-to’ person about your chosen topic and will think of your blog as a resource when they are looking for help.  This also means that you will be the first person they think about when they need help in an area, specifically the service or product you sell, which means more sales!

BUILD TRUST WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

If the content of your blog posts is proving useful to the reader, they will begin to trust what you are telling them and see that you really know your stuff.  As I’m sure you have found yourself, whenever you are making a purchase from somewhere or someone, you want to know that you are getting a quality product, so if you have evidence of that in the form of a helpful blog article, you will know you can trust the seller.  This works for your content and potential customers too.  If they have had a small win, or solved a problem, thanks to your blog post, they will trust you to deliver in whatever it is you are selling.

In addition to showing that your knowledge can be trusted, you are also building a personal connection to your audience.  Your own style and voice will be conveyed when you write a full-length article and when your ideal client is reading, this voice will resonate with them and they will know they have found the person they want to work with or buy from.

Have a read of these…

What to blog about

OK, so I’ve sold you on the benefits of blogging but you’re probably wondering if you have anything to say.  Let me assure you that you most definitely do.  We all do!  You just need to find a way to write in your own voice, that will serve your audience best.

Here are a few topic ideas to get you started:

BEHIND THE SCENES

A “behind the scenes” post will give your audience some familiarity with how you work and what they can expect if they work with you.  It will demystify the experience, which can be a block for some people if they are working on something for the first time and shows your audience that you know what you’re doing.  It can also just be a really interesting topic for people to read about, I know that I love to see how others are working so I can maybe learn to improve my own process.

CASE STUDY

This is a great way to dive into the process of working with you.  Pick one of your clients or projects and lay out all the steps, being sure to highlight the ways you have helped the person you are working with. 

If you are a product-based business, rather than a service, you can still write a case study post.  Maybe you explore how you select products for your shop, or how to develop products to sell from idea to final item.

TUTORIAL/HOW-TO

By helping your audience, you will build a connection and trust with them that will increase how they value you and your services or product.  Think about what they might be struggling with within their business, especially if it’s something that could be a barrier to them working with or buying from you.  Create a post or a video, that explains and shows them how to do something.  If you can give them a win, or solve their problem, they will definitely remember you.

EXPLAIN YOUR SERVICE

Similar to the case study post but here you can be more general and talk about what you offer.  If it’s a product you could record a video showing it in more detail, or if it’s a service you can write in-depth about how you created it and what led you to offer it.

TALK ABOUT YOURSELF

People love to hear people’s stories and see what they are like in ‘real life’.  You can tell your story of how you ended up where you are now, the path that led you to owning your business.  You could talk about how you structure your day and your daily routine.  You don’t need to go too deep or reveal anything personal but just sharing some of who you really are will make your audience see you as a real person and build that personal connection to you.

I hope the above has given you some inspiration to get writing for your website and remember under each of those headings there can be multiple posts generated so you shouldn’t find yourself running out of inspiration for some time!