Does your business really need a blog?
Nope. You’re good.
Oh, but you want sales, referrals, lead generation, customer loyalty, and engagement? Then yes, you absolutely need a business blog.
First, understand this: the numbers don’t lie.
- Companies that blog get 97% more inbound links back to their websites.
- Businesses that blog get 55% more website visitors.
- Content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing & generates 3X as many leads.
- Blog posts are topping out as one of the primary ways companies choose to share content.
Let’s also understand that creating and maintaining a business blog is no simple task. You must carefully consider your blog’s content, and cadence. Having said that, though, Hubspot shows us that the more posts published, the higher the customer acquisition.
However, what you publish and how frequently you publish it entirely depends on your audience. There’s unfortunately no hard and fast rule to business blogging or content marketing for that matter, so the best you can do is to test what works, then test, and test again.
To help you along, let’s take a look at some powerful blogging insights from two extremely well-known and successful blogs.
Pro tip: To measure the success of your blog posts, track unique post and overall site traffic using Google Analytics. Here’s how to install Google Analytics on your WordPress blog.
Insight #1: Seth Godin’s Blog
Multiple business founder and best-selling author Seth Godin (Purple Cow, All Marketers Are Liars) receives an estimated 640K visits a month to his blog.
Pro tip: SimilarWeb is a free Chrome plugin. Use it to spy on your competitors or to get an idea of average site rankings, bounce rates, and visits.
At first, Godin thought the Internet was stupid, but when he realized how powerful a tool it was in directly reaching his audience, he eventually committed to his current cadence of publishing one blog post a day.
In a recent interview on the Tim Ferriss Show, Godin says '[Blogging is] one of the top 5 decisions I’ve ever made. I have a practice that resonates with people that I can do forever.'
[bctt tweet=”Why Your Business Needs A Blog: Speak directly to your audience in a way that resonates with them.” username=”hostgator”]
Insight #2: The Smart Passive Income Blog
Pat Flynn’s blog is a tremendous resource for anyone aiming to make extra cash through multiple income streams. On blogging, Flynn writes, 'Although a blog isn’t passive in nature, it’s one of the best platforms for launching other passive income opportunities.'
In addition to providing endless tips for small business owners and marketers (check out the podcast), Flynn suggests that a stand-alone blog won’t make money, but that the eBooks, products, print books, courses, consulting that you write about and sell will boost traffic and rake in the cash. Flynn should know. From his very humble beginnings, he’s now passively raking in over 100K/month. If that’s not a great reason to start business blogging, we’re not sure what is!
[bctt tweet=”Why Your Business Needs A Blog: It’s one of the best platforms for passive income opportunities.” username=”hostgator”]
Insight #3: MySocialSuite’s Blog
New social media marketing startup MySocialSuite rivals the likes of Hootsuite and SproutSocial for helping businesses boost productivity through social posting automation, analytics, and more.
We recently spoke with co-founder Luke Clifford who launched the MySocialSuite blog in June 2016. He says, 'Carefully selecting the content you publish puts you in the SEO driving seat and in control of your site’s organic audience.' Clifford says he’s seen tremendous site traffic growth since the launch of the blog which he credits for dozens of direct product purchases. While Clifford agrees that business blogging is about point-of-sale, he says 'It’s also about building customer loyalty and carving out a meaningful space as an industry leader.'
[bctt tweet=”Why Your Business Needs A Blog: Build customer loyalty and carve out your space as an industry leader.” username=”hostgator”]
There’s a reason HostGator has a blog and even more reasons why our blog is segmented into these categories: web hosting, marketing, small biz & Snappy (the adventures of everyone’s favorite gator mascot). We’ve studied our audience. We know who you are and what you want, but we’re always testing, tuning, and improving.
We recommend studying these blogs for content ideas, calls to action, and key selling points. Discover what it is about the blogs and specific posts that invite you to continue clicking and reading.
Do you enjoy other blogs? Share your faves in the comment section! We’d love to know who you’re reading for inspiration (did the HostGator blog make your list of favorites?).
Are you ready to start making money from your business blog?
Create Your Blog With HostGator!
Henry Green is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas who helps small businesses and entrepreneurs improve their online presence through marketing, social media, and website optimization.