Written by Let’s Bee Social Content Manager, Courtney Lorusso
The Benefits of Blogging
Blogging has been around for quite some time now. It’s been around so long and there are so many of them out there now that you may be asking yourself if blogging for your business is still necessary or even relevant. Blogs take time to develop and results don’t just happen overnight, so we can see where it might be perceived that blogging may not help your business. But we’re here to let you know that blogging is indeed, still relevant (hence this blog). And that now more than ever, you need to be diligent and precise about the content you’re putting out especially when it comes to your blog.
The 2 Major Benefits of Blogging
Improves Search Engine Rankings
Increasing your search presence, or where your business and information comes up in a Google search, is the most important return on your investment as far as blogging is concerned. When you blog for your business, you’re doing many different things, most of which we will elaborate on below. But essentially you’re trying to position your company as high as possible in a Google search. Let’s face it. How many times have you gone to page 2 or even 3 of your search results when looking for a product or service? If we had to wager, we would feel pretty confident that you stayed on page one of those search results.
That right there is just proof that blogging is necessary and still relevant for your business to be successful. 75% of clicks to websites are listed on the first page of Google, and sites in the top 3 spots gain about 60% of those clicks. For instance, if that means if you run a mobile grooming business, and your business doesn’t come up on the first page in the Google search results, you probably aren’t getting many calls for grooming from new potential customers who found you online. And it’s probably because people aren’t going to be able to find you. Actually it’s more like they aren’t going to spend the time trying to find you. We live in a time of instant gratification, and it’s much more gratifying to click on a result on the first page of a Google search than having to sift through all the pages of search results.
PRO TIP: If your company isn’t climbing in the Google rankings, you need to ask yourself if your blogs are being optimized properly. You may be putting out great blog content, but if your content isn’t optimized for the intention of the user’s search, it won’t matter. You need to consider what your users are searching in order to find your business, and make sure that both your blogs and your website are properly optimized.
Build Credibility as an Industry Leader
In order for you to appear on page one of a Google search, Google has to deem your information relevant and credible. The more relevant and the more credible information you have pertaining to a particular Google search, the higher you’re going to rank in Google. There are a ton of factors that go into this from keywords to how long people actually stay on your website.
But there’s more to it than that. Blogging helps you build credibility in your industry as an industry leader. When you’re positioning your company or business, you want to position yourself as a credible, reliable source of information. For instance, if you’re in the grooming business, your customers are going to want to know that you not only have the skills, but the know-how to take care of their pets.
In order to do that, you need to put out credible information for your potential customers to read so that they can see that you do have the knowledge and skills that they’re looking for. If you’re putting out interesting, well thought out blog content, readers are going to appreciate and reward that. If you aren’t blogging and showing that you have the knowledge in your particular field or industry, you’re missing out on the chance to show off your expertise and gain the trust of your potential target audience.
PRO TIP: Blogging isn’t just about putting out credible information. Everyone is trying to be on Google’s first page, so everyone is trying to put out reliable and factual information. It’s also about putting out information that is fresh and that your readers and customers haven’t heard before, or at the very least in a way they haven’t heard it before.
So the question you need to ask yourself before you blog is this: is the information or what you’re saying adding something new to the conversation? If the answer is yes, by all means proceed. But if the answer is no, maybe you need to spend some more time really thinking about what you’re trying to accomplish and how you’re going to stand out. If you want to see direct ROI when it comes to blogging, this might be most important aspect. If you aren’t adding something new to the conversation, then your efforts may get lost in the vast sea of information that’s available on the interwebs.
Final Thoughts: If You Aren’t Already Blogging, Vlog
Blogging is a great tool to boost your SEO and build your credibility, but if you haven’t started a blog yet, you could actually consider starting a vlog. If you don’t know what a vlog is, it’s a company or person posting short videos relating to their business or personal brand. The benefit to vlogging is that when you vlog, you have the potential to show up in YouTube search results and Google search results. This gives you the ability to double-dip, if you will, since YouTube allows you to add keywords, closed captions and meta descriptions to your videos.
If you have fresh information and an interesting approach on how you’re going to convey it, starting a vlog could yield great results for your business. Almost 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube a day in comparison to the 3.5 billion web searches. That’s potentially 1.5 billion more opportunities you have to connect with your audience and boost your rankings even more.