As many start-ups and smaller businesses increasingly turn to alternative content marketing strategies, the question needs to be asked: are blogs still important for businesses? The answer, in short, is yes.
Not only does a blog allow your business to share your story and ideas, but blogging also…
1. Increases the number of indexed pages on your website
2. Allows you to rank for a higher number of keywords and search terms
3. Offers link building opportunities
4. Gives a much higher chance of returning traffic
…all of which can help to improve lead generation.
According to research, B2B companies with blogs generate 55% more website visits than companies without blogs.
Increasing the number of indexed pages –
Having a blog that is regularly updated with quality content increases the number of indexed pages on your website. If you’re wondering what an index page is, it is the URL that allows your website or page to show up in search results. Simply put, the more indexed pages, the more chances you have of your website appearing in people’s searches.
However, click-throughs aren’t the only benefit to more indexed pages. In fact, a new study from Hubspot shows a clear correlation between the number of indexed pages and lead generation. The research found that increasing indexed pages by 50-100 causes a double-digit lead generation. However, having a blog alone is not enough.
Improving SEO and semantic search terms –
It goes without saying that more content means that more keywords are present on your website. Chances are that when writing about your products and services, you are using a lot of relevant keywords without even noticing. When adding relevant and informative blogs to your website, you are boosting your SEO and keywords without realising.
To further boost your SEO, using tools such as Google Adwords Keywords Tool ensures that you are using the correct words and terms for your audience.
Providing link building opportunities –
Other sites, influencers and users are more likely to link to your blog if your content is fresh, interesting and informative. So your blog needs to provide more than just keywords to be successful and lead to conversions. 94% of people who share blogs do so because they think that it will be helpful to others.
Once there, you can then use your blog to direct site visitors towards your products, services and resources by placing links and calls to action within the content.
Visitors are more likely to keep returning to your website –
Not only can blogs drive more traffic to your website, but they can also increase returning traffic. Why? Because with regularly updated content and fresh new information, there is more reason to keep coming back.
Although maintaining an informative blog takes time and effort, the benefits are invaluable. Two-thirds of the companies included in Hubspot’s previously-mentioned research have a business blog and, on average, they generated 67% more leads than the companies without one.
In fact, if you’ve got old blog posts that have been sitting around for a while, try dusting them off and freshening them up. It can prove a worthy investment as historic optimisation can boost traffic by 106%.
If you’d like help with your blog or advice on how to generate more leads for your company, get in touch with us here. We would love to help you.
If you’re looking to start up a new blog for your business or revitalise the one you already have, then get in touch for help, tips and advice.
