Can Blogging be Useful for a Small Business Owner?

Guest article by Benny Lambert

Blogging is a highly useful form of content marketing. But is it suitable for small business owners to use? We look at the advantages of blogging below, and how a small business owner could incorporate one into their marketing strategies.
 
The Advantages of Blogging for Small Businesses
First, let’s take a look at the advantages of blogging. What can a blog bring to your small business and how can it help?
 
1. It can boost SEO
Firstly, a blog is a great way to boost SEO. You can incorporate important business keywords into your blog to start. Also, if your blog is active and gets plenty of views and comments, this can also help boost your SEO rankings on websites like Google.
 
2. It can drive customer interactions
Blogs are also an excellent way to create more user interactions and website traffic. If you promote your blog successfully, it will gain plenty of views. This will raise awareness of your business. If you use the right backlinks, it should also result in increased traffic to your main website and online store.
 
3. It can boost customer’s experience with your site & company
Blogs also make customers’ experience positive with your company. If you fill your blog with useful and helpful information you can genuinely help your customers. This will give them a positive opinion of your business and show them that you value their custom.

How to Create an Effective Blog for Your Business
Secondly, we must now look at how to achieve this. How can you make your blog successful? The following are some simple things that should help:
 
1. Create a regular posting schedule
The main key to success is regularity. Many businesses start their blog with good intentions. They post regularly for the first month. However, after this, the blog falls into disrepair and is never updated. Don’t do this! You must strive to keep the blog updated regularly with fresh new content. Do this by creating a regular posting schedule - such as bi-weekly blogs. This gives you focus and something to work towards.
 
2. Create engaging and useful content
The blog content must also be engaging. Users must have a reason to read it! Make the posts interesting, exciting, but also beneficial. These could be guides and how-to articles relating to your products, for example. Also, don’t forget to include your branding in your blogs. This should include things like logos and color schemes.
 
3. Respond to comments
The best blogs have hundreds of comments from users, and responses from the business! This shows that the blog is active, it also shows potential readers that you value their opinion and listen to them.
 
Oftentimes people will ask questions in blog comment sections, for example. Make sure you reply to each comment and remove any spam comments to keep the comment section clean!
 
4. Include graphics and images
Platforms like Blogger also give you the option to include images and multimedia in your posts. Always try to break up your text with relative media. No one wants to read a huge wall of text without any images or videos! There are plenty of copyright-free image websites like Unsplash where you can find thousands of images to use in your blogs. Alternatively, you could take your own photos that relate to your business and the subject of the blog.
 
For small businesses, a blog can serve as an additional outlet. It has many benefits including boosting website traffic, improving SEO, and driving customer interactions. Why not incorporate one into your marketing strategies today?