Is Blogging Still Relevant?
Blogging was one of the first ways for people to get involved in the internet. Sites like Blogger and Wordpress have been offering an easy way to get personal content online for years, and businesses were quick to follow, using a company blog as a way to present news, give customers valuable content and insights and also to get their name out there.
Although many internet trends come and go quickly, blogging is still very relevant (hence this blog piece!). Blogs are useful as a way to update customers on your business news – this content can also be used as part of an email newsletters, a signpost on your social media or even submitted to an industry website as a guest contribution. Blogging is still a great way to:
- generate leads
- convert those who are at the purchase stage in the buying cycle (having used your blog during the research stage)
- generate content for emails
- generate posts for social feeds
- answer questions to get to the top in organic search results
- provide excellent content for a link building campaign, and
- simply highlight relevant information which you feel might be useful
Blogging doesn't have to be an expensive or time consuming exercise. If you have a website you can easily add a blog section and create your own posts. If writing isn't your thing, you may have someone on your staff who excels at it, or you could hire a freelancer to create content on your behalf. Unlike a full-blown marketing campaign, blogging takes little time and investment, but can be just as successful at getting customers and leads as other forms of marketing. The difference with blogging is that it won't bring instant results like a PPC campaign will, but as a slow-burner, it will help generate high quality leads over the longer term.
Blog content can improve your ranking in the search results by answering common questions and providing information that your prospects are looking for. If you don't have the content on your site then it can't be seen and listed by Google (and other search engines).Keeping your site up to date with new, original content helps you stay relevant, and therefore in sight of your potential customers.
Imagine you are a customer looking for your product or service. You've visited a handful of websites and you've got a shortlist of two or three companies you would buy from. What clinches that decision? Well, sometimes it's a blog with good content. If a customer is able to find the answers to their questions, and to learn something valuable from the company blog they're more likely to trust that company is a leader in the field. It also shows that the company is active and engaged online which can be another tick in the box compared to a company with little information on their website.
So, blogging is still a very relevant and worthwhile exercise for many reasons. It may not get your phones ringing the second you post an article, but over time it will help qualify leads, get your name out there with a good reputation attached and help support SEO, social media outreach and email marketing too.
