Why Every Business Needs Blogs

Regardless of the industry you’re in–if you sell products, provide services, or anything in between–your website and your business will greatly benefit from blogs.

Some blog-hater these days say blogs aren’t as popular as they used to be–but au contraire! Studies show that 77% of internet users read blogs, and roughly 409 million internet users read about 20 billion blog pages monthly.

If you have a blog for your business, you’ll be able to tap into this massive audience and generate more customers and leads. 

In this post, we’ll explain why blogs support not only your organic website traffic but also the perception of your brand. Plus, get a few ideas for next blog post!

The basics: What constitutes a blog

Blogs are educational, informative, or helpful content that provides valuable information to your target audience. They’re usually at least 500 words, with enough content to be useful to your readers. Google tends to also appreciate blogs that are over 500 words. 

Blogs include keywords or key phrases your target audience is searching for. This allows your site to be discovered more easily and helps readers find your posts when searching on Google. 

It is super important to conduct keyword research! You’ll want to know what topics your audience is searching for, so you can write content that drives relevant traffic to your website. We’ll talk more about keyword research below.

How service-based businesses benefit from blogs

The most obvious reason to start a blog is to grow your organic website traffic. Diversifying how clients learn about you will support your business long-term. You can’t and shouldn’t always rely on social media and referrals for your business. Having multiple entry points for your target audience will support your business if one stream slows down. 

Blogs help service-based businesses position themselves as the subject matter expert in their field. By elaborating on topics your target audience needs support with, you can establish authority in your industry. This not only increases your brand awareness but also builds trust with your audience. More and more people will start to turn to you for information and advice. 

Blogs are also part of your content marketing strategy and can make it easier to create other pieces of content. You can easily turn 1 blog into 12 social media captions and a newsletter for your subscribers. You’ll save time writing content and your audience will appreciate the consistency of your brand. 

Blog ideas for service-based businesses 

Blogs should provide practical information related to the services you provide. Think of blogs with titles like “How to _____”, “Recommendations for ____”,  “Getting started with _____”, or “Top tips for ___”. This will draw in your audience and give readers an introduction to your offers. 

Service-based businesses can also share behind-the-scenes looks, best-practices, or learnings as a business owner. While this type of content won’t always help as much with SEO or growing organic traffic, it will support your current audience with storytelling and trust. 

Remember, blogging isn’t all about growing your audience, it’s also about supporting your current audience with helpful information. 

How e-commerce businesses benefit from blogs

E-commerce businesses are usually the ones most hesitant when it comes to investing time and energy in writing and managing a blog. You’re selling products, not services, so it’s easier to assume that informational blogs aren’t as helpful. But that isn’t the case! 

E-commerce blogs can help drive organic traffic to your website and get people interested in your products. They offer the chance for you to establish your brand identity while encouraging trust and loyalty from your customers. 

Blog ideas for e-commerce businesses

These blogs should focus on your business products, applicable resources on how to use your products, gifting ideas, and more. Here’s a list of blog ideas to get you started:

• How to use, clean, maintain, the products you’re selling.

• Products you recommend pairing with yours–these could be your own products or your business besties you want to support with backlinks. 

• Favorite products from a collection and why. 

• Advice or key learnings for other business owners in your industry. 

• Seasonal products and how to use/wear/care for them each season.

• Gifting guides during the holidays.

• Step-by-step explanations of your products are created. 

• Stories about your business or you as the business owner–these posts won’t support SEO as much, but they can help build connections with your current audience.

Conduct keyword research 

Keywords research is insanely valuable if you want to write quality blog content. Writing for the right keywords will strengthen your brand visibility and give you the chance to connect with a broader audience. It also offers direction for your blog writing so you know what topics will engage your readers the most. 

Using free tools like Answer The Public is a good place to start to see what people might be searching for. But as you grow your blog, it’s really worth investing in keyword research specific to your business. For more details on keyword research and the blog-writing process, check out our tips for writing the perfect blog.

If you need support starting and managing your blog, we’re here to help you out. Get in touch to learn more about our blog management packages.

And remember, blogs aren’t the only thing that can support business outreach! Read about the benefits of email marketing for service-based businesses and product-based businesses to learn how to engage with your audience even more.