Do you know how many people are connected to the internet on a daily basis? The answer might surprise you. 4.7 billion! To put things into perspective, as of January, 2021 the worldwide population clock is presently inching towards the mark of 8 billion!

This trivia translates to a simple fact. More than half of the entire world’s populace (59.5% to be specific) is on the internet.

So, it is a no-brainer, that the visibility of online content has risen to an all-time high.

Gone are the days, when blogging (a shortened form of ‘weblog’) used to be restricted to individuals sharing a slice of their personal lives online, in the form of a web-journal. Over the past decade, blogging has evolved to be an essential tool to promote, manage, and grow any business. 

Fast forward to 2021, especially in a post-pandemic world, the scope and benefit of blogging have skyrocketed.

In this post, we are going to discuss the many purposes of blogging along with the benefits and effectiveness of creating content to drive inbound links and traffic to a website; and how it can promote a business.

Purpose of Blogging: Why should you blog?

Blogging, as a major tool to share content across the internet, can be used to serve four broad purposes: Educate, Inspire, Entertain and Promote.

Educate:

 Do you possess expertise in certain fields? Are you willing to share your knowledge in an engaging manner to the world? Then a blog might be the first option you should consider.

In a rapidly growing digital space, the internet has become a one-stop option for learning new skills or looking for relevant materials for knowledge. Through relevant educational content on your blog, you can reach people who have an interest in the subject. This practice also involves constantly updating your content and educating yourself in order to reach more like-minded people. These kinds of blogs also help build a niche audience along with a personal brand; which have a high probability of translating into monetization.

Inspire:

Suppose you own a popular brand or your business has already been established. You are wondering how you can tap into the online space more, and reach the people who are willing to read about your brand, its history and have sneak-peeks into your success. By starting a blog and writing about your business, you can inspire many aspiring entrepreneurs (not to mention potential customers, even investors and stakeholders) and build authority over the internet space. This activity will eventually be beneficial for your brand visibility and recognition in public view, which eventually will propel the growth of your company.

Entertain:

Consider you are passionate about something – like books or movies, and you want to share your ideas and thoughts to the world. A blog for movie-review, or a weekly newsletter consisting of a curated list of books – might be the options you must check out. Make sure that, as you grow your reading or watching habits, so does your blog! It takes great effort to build a niche audience looking specifically for the content that you produce and share. As a result, the reward is also befitting. You can get people interested across the globe and reach a global audience by simply tweaking certain sections of your blog. To add to the benefits, if the blog is successful and can be monetized, then you will have developed a sustainable career based on your passion! How awesome is that?

Promote:

 Creating promotional campaigns is an important benefit of any blog – be it a personal blog about everyday endeavors, or a business blog sharing news and insights on their specific industry. Additionally, there are numerous inventive ways to monetize your blog material. Affiliate marketing enables you to earn money writing about virtually any subject – from cosmetic and beauty to camping and motorcycling. While you may not see instant results, you will eventually be able to count on a predictable amount of traffic and leads for your business without having to commit further resources – the work to generate that traffic and leads has already been done.

Blogging for Business: Key Benefits for you to Start!

a) It is now or never:

It’s 2021! We live in a world plagued by a devastating pandemic, and our lives are impacted by a staggering economy. But one thing that has become more relevant to our lives and made sustainable implications in the last year is online businesses. Blogging is the simplest method for potential customers to be informed about your business space.

b) Driving traffic to your website

Let’s consider you have a business and your website is up and running. One key method for you to drive organic traffic to your site is blogging and optimizing your site for the search engines.

How do you do that?

  1. As the blog posts are properly indexed and bear details of your business, it creates possibilities for showing up on Search Engine Results Page – SERP. It also boosts search engine optimization -SEO via the tailored keywords and indexing.

  2. the blog posts give the search engine cues that the website is active and posting content on a regular basis. This eventually helps drive organic traffic to the website.

c) Conversion- Generating leads from traffic:

Blog posts can serve as options to generate new leads for your business. 

To enable this, one simple feature needs to be added to each blog post – a call to action or CTA button. Often the CTA button includes free stuff like ebooks, newsletter subscriptions, fact sheets, webinars, trials, templates, offers and similar items. In short, it should be of some value or asset for which the visitors are prompted to share their information. By this method, the website traffic can be converted into sales leads.

d) Developing better relationships with customers:

Connecting with people is one of the greatest benefits of blogging. Whether you own a personal blog or a blog for your business, it is a place where genuine interactions and honest conversations can happen. Immediate feedback on your content will help you to rethink your strategies and business plans.

Not only does sharing company news on your blog humanize your brand, but it also helps your audience notice that you’re not always about selling. By providing such a platform to your customers, the blog might solidify the relationship between your business and its consumers,

e) Gaining authority and positioning as industry leader:

When your blog includes  articles that are beneficial not just to your potential consumers, but also to other businesses that your audience regards as industry leaders; gaining authority over a certain field becomes easier.

Thus, links to authoritative websites are regarded as a vote of confidence or endorsement by other websites. Additionally, it communicates to the search engines that you are a reliable source of information and an authority in your respective field. This enables your business to be positioned as an industry leader. 

f) Running advertisements and test campaigns:

Blog posts can be sourced as a great place for running specific adverts relating to your business.  Through analysing the inbound traffic and general response to the adverts, you can make informed decisions with specific insights that are crucial for your digital marketing strategy.  

A blog can also be utilized to test out large-scale campaigns on a shoestring budget before spending a large amount of money and time in their construction.

g) Maintaining an online identity and attaining long term results:

 In the digital age, individuals and businesses alike have their information available online. One of the benefits of blogs is that they enable you to create and manage your online persona. Apart from social media profiles, those searching for your brand name may come across your blog or author page on other blogs. This information will assist readers in getting to know you better.

Blog posts made on certain subjects can continue to receive traffic for days, weeks, months, and years to come. While it might feel as though it’s a day-to-day basis, regular toil; blogging actually works in the opposite direction: the effort you put in yesterday can yield hundreds of thousands of views and leads in the future.

 

So, do you want to express your passion, educate others, increase your exposure, establish authority, improve your SEO performance, or do you have something to share? If any of these is the reason, you may consider  launching your new blog!

However, one thing to keep in mind is that your vision must be long term. Whatever you do today will have an effect on your future internet presence. Not to mention, blogging has a variety of benefits that extend beyond generating revenue.

Now it’s your turn to discover an all new world of possibilities.