“Do we really need to blog, is blogging still important?” she writes in a blog, which she publishes on her website. Point proved, job done, now time for a cup of coffee. But, in all seriousness, with the rise in podcasting and social media video platforms, is there any need for messages to be written anymore?
I would argue that there is and that blogs are still an essential part of any marketing armoury (that should stop the hordes of copywriters waving pitchforks from battering down my door), but the content that you put out there has to be well structured, informative, and, most importantly, fresh. Reeling out the same turgid message can be just as damaging for a brand as not creating anything at all.
So, why is blogging still important?
Blogging improves your visibility.
Imagine that the internet is a busy networking event. We’ve all been to them and have, hopefully, noticed that there are people who work the room, and there are also people who stick to the edges of the group and wait to be approached. The people who work the room are always the ones who are most memorable; whether it’s through charisma or a natural technique, we leave with their message in our minds.
A fresh, well-written, regularly updated blog is the internet version of working the room. It provides multiple opportunities for your brand to be found by new customers and allows you to spread multiple messages about your brand.
Content is King
Here’s a nice bit of general knowledge for you, Bill Gates first wrote ‘Content is King’ in an essay published on the Microsoft website. In the most perfect internet twist, he stole the idea from a man called Sumner Redstone. Anyway, the point that Gates was making was that we were entering an era where anyone would have the opportunity to publish themselves, and we now have the technology for every business (and individual) to have a voice.
Unique content not only tells your potential customers what you can offer and how fabulous you are, but it also improves SEO, encourages engagement, and provides you with a platform to increase traffic to your website. All from a blog!
Blogs are a piece of the integrated marketing jigsaw.
Regular blogs work as a part of a wider integrated marketing strategy. When you combine them with clever social media, podcasts, offline marketing, and email marketing campaigns, they provide a vital content link. No single platform will ever hit all of your target markets, some people read blogs, some people listen to podcasts, there are people out there who do neither, but will Google questions. As a result, blogs remain an essential part of your marketing strategy.
Something to post on social media
Why does your business have social media? There’s really only one reason: to get your message out there and tell people what you do. Combining blogs with a decent social media strategy provides at least two positives. Firstly, you can establish yourself as an expert in your field, a fount of knowledge to be referred to. Secondly, it creates an opportunity to direct the reader to your website, where they will read your blog and then, fingers crossed, have a little browse at the other things that you do.
Before you bat this idea away, think for a second about how you came across this blog. Was it through a LinkedIn post?
Let’s talk keywords and rankings.
Back in the dark days when Google was still working on their algorithms, and Facebook was still a project in a college dorm room, it was pretty easy to get your website noticed. There were a couple of obvious reasons for this: there weren’t that many websites (in January 2008, there were 155,583,825 websites listed), and you could pretty much throw every keyword you needed into a nonsensical first paragraph, and search engines would read them.
Thankfully, someone got tired of reading deliberate misspellings and content that wasn’t designed to be read by people and changed the ranking algorithms. Combine this with the knowledge that in January 2020, there were 1.4 billion websites all vying for bandwidth, and writing blogs with specifically tailored keywords suddenly starts to make sense. A well-written blog with the right keywords can significantly improve your rankings and your SEO.
Demonstrating the depth and breadth of your knowledge
It goes without saying that a blog gives you the opportunity to shout loudly and proudly about your knowledge and experience. It places you at the top of your game. It also lets you shout about other great stuff that you’re doing, such as the fundraising cancer coffee morning the admin team put on, and the jumper drives for the local homeless just before Christmas. A blog gives the reader insight into your expertise and your company’s ethos.
Did you enjoy this blog? Are you suddenly wondering how you can get something similar for your business? Get in touch, and we will get your content strategy up and running.
