Why don’t more businesses have active blogs? It’s tough for business to gauge the effectiveness of blogging, or social media for that matter. It can be a hard sell to someone trained to make decisions based on market research, case studies and projected analysis. Lets talk about why business blogs are so important…
Blogging – Your Social Media Glue
Table of Contents
I tell my clients they need to blog because, other than Google loves blogs, it will quickly become the central online presence that links all their other online efforts. Their blog will become a revolving door to and from other online activities. Facebook and Google Plus pages, video channels, Twitter and all the rest need somewhere to go. Blogs are far better equipped for this mergence than most traditional static websites.
Blogging And Online Sales
You want clients and potential customers to subscribe to your social streams, your video channel and the various feeds you have established. A business blog will help bring purpose to all of those useless numbers. Who cares how many YouTube subscribers you have if you can’t sell a single product there? Anyone with any online experience knows you NEVER NEVER NEVER sell anything through your social media presence other than reputation and personalization. Try “selling” directly through social media and you are doomed for failure, with the exception of direct advertising (We’ll save that for another day).
Now think about every social profile you have channeling small streams of traffic to your blog (your central online presence) – not a sales page. Sales pages still work but only with the right market and audience. For example, if you are selling healthy dog treats you can do very well with an aggressive adwords campaign and a fantastic sales page. You’ll be extending the life span of happy puppies in no time. BUT, try sending your Facebook fans to that same sales page as watch those numbers; you’ll be pretty disappointed. Why is that? You are dealing with a different market, for the most part. You aren’t necessarily working with people searching for healthy dog treats to buy; each person may have a different reason for being on your fan page.
List Building
Now imagine a well planned Facebook campaign with an enticing contest or giveaway building a massive list of dog and animal lovers. Can you think of anything a healthy dog treat business could do with a list like that? Now bring in YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, etc.. Starting to get the point?
Your Business Blog’s Overall Purpose
Every successful blog needs a purpose, a goal, a plan; yes, a business plan. If we donât know why we are blogging, and to what end, we’re simply shooting from the hip hoping to hit something. That simply wonât do in business so letâs take a look at some of the reasons business needs to blog.
- Sales: Your business blog will help serve as an indirect sales tool for your social media campaigns.
- Direction: Your blog will filter and funnel your social subscribers and connections in the best direction for everyone.
- Information: Your blog will help inform your customers of upcoming sales, product information and in-store opportunities.
- Personalization: Your blog will “humanize” your company and that’s a very powerful prospect.
- Communication: Your business blog will encourage and help your customer base communicate with feedback, concerns, reviews, requests and questions directly on any issue you desire.
- Website Growth: Blogs require updates to stay fresh and relevant. Blogs are a great solution for website growth with constant, traffic generating content. Google loves blogs… You’ve heard that before, right?
Okay, Let’s Wrap This Up:
There are a ton of excuses we can think of against it but blogs and social media is a MUST for your business’s future, not an option to consider. The consumer market and trends are quickly changing and any business unable or unwilling to change with it will quietly disappear into the shadows.
A Little Extra Commentary?
This is the day of constant media saturation. I’m not talking about what we used to think of as news and media overload. That is outdated thinking and completely irrelevant in this discussion. Since I brought it up, what we thought of as information overload was actually the consumerâs demand for instant access to information.
It’s those same consumers that are now demanding constant media (access) to virtually every aspect of life around them. Today’s buyer wants access to your product and/or information 24/7; just as they do with their banking, health, communication, entertainment and on and on. I could go on forever here but you should have an idea of what I’m getting at…
Become part of the YouTube generation and beyond or lose your market share to the nineteen year old go-getter that can’t lift 50 lbs and has more piercings than you have degrees.
Your Thoughts Please
Did I miss anything? Am I way off? Do you think a business blog is necessary or just a waste of time? Without you Iâm just here talking to myself so your comments mean something to me, feel free to interact. 🙂
About Brian D. Hawkins
Hi Brian,
Great job of listing the reasons why a business needs a blog. I believe that every single business needs a blog, but I also believe that it can be fairly hard to start a blog for every business. One thing is that it can be hard to get someone to write the content, a lot of businesses don’t have people who’re good writers (like a car dealership) and it might be hard for a company to come up with the content if they don’t get help.
One thing I believe is important for a company when it comes to blogging is that the people who’re blogging might actually become better at their jobs when they blog. When they write about their jobs (and the details about what they’re doing), they’ll understand more about their company and their customers.
Hey Jens, that’s a nice point that I hadn’t considered. Writing about and participating in discussions on company issues would have to improve their businesses knowledge. I can see how the person or people within a larger company charged with maintaining blog content/interaction could become the “go to” person for other employees.
As far as smaller companies unable to write or find someone to write, there are usually people like myself locally that would be glad to take on the job. Even in a very rural area a business could find writers within their particular niche by searching online. Of course the business owner could save a lot of money if they were willing to at least respond to comments and outline upcoming issues to write about.
Brian, you outlined the benefits of blogging wonderfully. I think most businesses and personal citizens are still fearful of the time commitment, unseen successes, regiment, and the yes science that goes into blogging.
Blogging is a powerful tool to get your word out and it is amazing how blogging is still received buy some.
I tell people I blog and they seem to think I could not find another hobby, but I enjoy the interaction and the friends I make.
In my opinion the people I meet through blogging are more friendly than social media friends.
Hi Michael, it’s true that blogging is tough for a lot of people to understand but it’s getting there. Just a few years ago the word “blog” meant nothing to most people.
The fear of what it takes to blog is another great point and I’ll be the first to admit that blogging takes time and effort. The time commitment you mentioned still catches me by surprise after all these years of blogging. Some of the time, science and writing can be handled by outsourcing but it still requires a commitment from the business owner of management.
Blogging for Company Website can at time become monotonous because the subject can be limited and mostly revolve around the Product or the Services aspect. It is advisable to outsource this aspect of your web to a third party can be very advantageous and there many guest bloggers who take up such assignments.
We are using such a service for our Swimming Pools website it is working well for us
That’s a great looking site Vinay and outsourcing is always ab option. Is that WordPress?
Hello Brian. I am in a situation where I have way more success with client sites than I have with my own platforms. The problem with making a success of your blog is that things are much easier with money behind it. I enjoy blogging on behalf of and working for businesses. They pay you to blog for them, and you have some money for ad spend. Ad spend (or money from promotions) helps a lot to grow an online presence.
Hi Ivin, I’m no sure I follow. Are you saying you are paid to blog for businesses and then you take the money you earn from it to promote your own blog?
Thanks for your sharing.Great job of listing the reasons why a business needs a blog. But I also believe that it can be fairly hard to start a blog for every business.
I agree there’s a slight learning curve Clemence but that’s true for most things worth doing. 🙂
You have made great points here. Business surely does need a blog as it offers them lot of benefits. Businesses can even hire a full time blogger for the purpose which can be really helpful. Thanks for sharing this informative post.
At least to get things started right Richa? Outsourcing is a nice option.
Hi Brian,
I think blogging is the best practice to make a noise and let others feel your presence.You can tell more about your business and its pretty much obvious that people will only listen to you when you say something.Blogging and socializing can make a lot of difference.
You have explained it well about why blogging is necessary in business.Great insights.
Well said Aditya, businesses have another venue for their message and customers gain valuable information and interaction.
Hi Brian,
There are many business out there, our generation would seem so competitive and I think you have a good point that business needs to be blog! Your blog is great 🙂
This generation is a good point Shey, young people today expect things like social media and blog options.
I think it is hard to blog about business than say about blogging, personal blogs etc. You must be passionate about the business and find topics to continually write about. I’d agree with Jens that you would become better at your job for it too. Every business should have one though.
Thanks Lisa, I agree with both Jens and you. 🙂
Neil Patel admits he makes more from his blog (QuickSprout) than from his business (Kissmetrics).
A blog can quickly become a platform for building a waste free business, because you are constantly in touch with your audience and you feel their pulse. It becomes very easy for you to do an ‘ask the reader’ kind of survey and get the thinking of your audience.
This level of feedback is invaluable in cutting the fluff from what matters an evolving a lean and waste-free product.
Bottom line is: If your business is not blogging, you are pushing valuable feedback down the drain.
Wow Yeremi , well said. It doesn’t get any better than that. Best quote of the day, “If your business is not blogging, you are pushing valuable feedback down the drain.”
Nice article by you Brian!
Blogging is a must if you own a business that can be further benefited from it.
It is just not many know about this technique and not widely known yet.
Heck, even the Internet is not being used by some that can help them succeed even more.
I’ve seen local business that still don’t have an email account mush less a website. Some just can’t figure out how to grow, or simply don’t want to.
I agree that businesses need to blog but have you read most new blogs lately? What’s the point of posting the same blogging tips stuff over and over again on new site after new site?
Why are people scared to talk about the real issues DOMINATING our world?
Hi Jacko, I see what you’re saying but we’re talking mainly of business blogs, not blogs about blogs. A real estate or candy store blog, that type of thing.
Business blogs are sweeping the business community. Blogs are an excellent method to share a company’s expertise, build additional web traffic, and connect with potential customers.
Blogs do have a downside. Blogging does not provide the functionality of web pages, has limits for e-commerce solutions and can be time-consuming with regular posts. But with minimal costs, it maybe advantageous to start blogging.
Time-consuming, I completely agree Jhon but I disagree about the lack of functionality. Any who says a blog has to replace that ecommerce site anyway? Most ecommerce platforms have blog functionality build right into it.
Having a major part of population being shifted to the internet, having a blog to advertise your business becomes a must because it has the maximum number of visitors online. This makes it easier to attract consumers to the business and aid in its development.
These are some awesome reasons. I agree with you that all businesses should be blogging. I read a great quote once that was “Out-teach your competition, don’t out-spend”.
Blogging is the new way to market your business. The good thing about this is it’s free. Thanks for the clever points mentioned. More power!
Man, I thought I’d commented on this one already. Of course businesses need to be blogging, for multiple reasons, most of which you already mentioned. And if possible, the head of the company needs to have a separate blog because it’s the connection they can make with the public that can really drive sales and goodwill.
It really is cool when the leader has their voice or input out there for everyone to see. Bob Parsons with GoDaddy comes to mind but he’s not been that active lately, on his blog anyway.
Hi Brian, this is such a superb post regarding company blogs! Two most important points I will highlight here are firstly about selling healthy dog treats and it’s Facebook fan page and secondly about “humanizing” a company. Truly customers actually need to get a medium to interact with the company staff/managers/owners concerning their various queries or problems via the company blog. I have seen some company blogs even solving out and satisfying clients complains in the comments section.
It’s been almost a year our company has started a blog. But we always do not write content with an intention to our financial products. Some posts are in the form of a story sort of. I know distribution to social media sites is another big and vital action to take. I have linked one such post here in the website field. It will be much appreciated if you checked it and gave any advice or remark. Thanks!
Thanks Daniel, telling a story is a great way to write. In fact, some will say that’s what makes a few bloggers into decent writers.
blog is really a good way to marketing by blog you can sell anything in world…and i like your theme so much, thanks for sharing ….!!!!!
There are a lot of ways to advertise our business, and the blog of course is a efficient way to start our business. You have made great points here. Use blog to do business surely can bring us benefit. The reasons you mentioned above are logical.
I do agree with what your saying, when you say “Try âsellingâ directly through social media and you are doomed for failure” I did that for a while and ouch… it isn’t much effective, you hit the spot there. I enjoy reading your articles, it gives me a lot of help! Thanks for being here!
Yes Bloggin is must for better business, we also started our new service regarding web developing we also started to blog.
I know there aren’t a ton of examples of big CEO’s who blog with effectiveness but this post made me think of one – Ted Leonsis http://www.tedstake.com/
Ted is either a millionaire or billionaire, one of the two, being that he owns both the Washington Wizards and the Washington Capitals, I think it’s the latter.
I saw him speak at one of Yanik Silver Underground Internet Marketing experiences and he spoke to the idea of connecting with the fans of the teams he owns via his blog and what a dramatic difference this made for him.
He’s not a sales machine doing all kinds of integrated campaigns and ninja stuff making the blog work in maximum overdrive at level 11 but he’s a great example of the head guy putting his voice out there on interesting topics.
If I ever had to choose an advertising medium for my business, it has to be internet and obviously a blogg with lo0ts of data about my business. I know this is the best channel to promote my business in the less possible time and more options to improve and grow.
Hmm… Really do things step by step are good. I will also tried to get more from social media and increasing readers at feed from your given tips. Thanks for sharing
Business needs to publish their productions and Innovations for their customers.This is one method of increase selling process.
Excellent blog about why business needs to blog. Actually every business needs to blog then only the peoples can know about the company that what they are doing currently, what’s new from them comparing with the others. With the help of blog we can get more tractions to our site. Simply we can improve our business from current position. Thanks for sharing such a good news. Thank u once again….
Hii, thanks for the article. Very informative post. Yes, blogs are very important for websites growth, traffic generation and very effective process for sales increment.
Blog is a great tool for branding your business or company. It has features that allow companies to maximize the awareness of their target audience about their product.
Hello! I Impressed with this post.Blog is a just like as tool to promote your business or your company. Actually every business needs to blog then only the peoples can know about the company that what they are doing currently.In my opinion This is the great way to promote your online business. its need it.well thanks.