Regardless of industry, it’s rare to see a modern business website without a blog page. This isn’t a coincidence; a well-managed blog can be a powerful marketing tool for increasing online sales.
In other words, if you haven’t already incorporated regular blog posts into your marketing strategy, it’s time to start!
What’s So Great About Blog Posts?
Not convinced that you need a blog? Maybe your brand is highly visual or technical, and you just don’t see the point of incorporating a written blog into your website. Or, maybe you find the time commitment and costs prohibitive.
You have a lot on your plate; are blog posts really worth the effort?
In a nutshell – yes! A blog that features regular, high-quality posts is an incredibly valuable resource for gaining clients and converting potential leads into sales.
Why are blog posts so effective? Read on to find out.
Content Marketing Builds Confidence in Your Brand
Let’s face it: few brands, large or small, have zero competition. Whether you design apps, run a dog grooming salon, or sell antique motorcycle jackets, chances are you need to compete with other brands in your industry for customers. This means that you need to find ways to stand out from – and above – the crowd in order to successfully develop your client base.
While there are many ways to accomplish this, including great customer service and a captivating website, blog posts are another tool you can use.
A well-maintained blog that offers relevant information to your customers, current and potential alike, builds credibility and confidence in your brand. And, by establishing yourself as a reliable authority, your audience may be more likely to choose you over your competitors when making a purchase.
As an added plus, authoritative, trustworthy content improves search engine rankings – more on this below.
Blogs Increase Brand Visibility
In order for you to successfully sell to consumers, your brand has to be visible to those consumers, and blog posts happen to be an awesome way to increase brand visibility.
For starters, blog posts provide regular content that can be shared on social media and other marketing channels that your business uses. This strengthens your web presence and keeps your brand engaged with your audience.
After all, if you haven’t posted on your Facebook business page since 2017 and your Instagram account has a single picture of a blurry logo, odds are that your business isn’t making the best impression on the many tech-savvy consumers who take to the web before making a purchase.
Sharing links to your blog posts in your newsletters, marketing emails, and on your social pages is a simple but powerful way to guarantee regular content and a better web presence.
Further, well-crafted content that follows SEO best practices improves SEO rankings.
That’s right – blog content can literally boost the visibility of your brand by ensuring that potential customers see your content before they see content from your competitors.
Visible content also offers greater opportunities for converting sales via strategic landing pages. And, thanks to the versatility of modern blogging solutions, you can even choose to enhance your blogs with imagery, videos, and other marketing assets.
Online Content Provide a Platform for Gated Content and Leads
There are two types of access you can provide to your content: ungated and gated.
Ungated content can be accessed by consumers without the exchange of any information (such as an email address), whereas gated content, while free, does require an exchange of information, often via a form.
Blog posts are usually ungated content – they are meant to promote your brand and increase visibility via SEO rankings. However, they can also act as a platform for gated content.
Gated content is intended to increase sales by collecting information about potential customers, thus increasing lead generation and insight into your customer base.
Depending on your audience, your gated content might be anything from a subscription-based monthly newsletter to a webinar series to a digital art show. On a blog, this kind of content often appears as a pop-up or a hyperlink leading to a landing page where customers receive additional information.
By using blog posts as a platform for gated content, they can generate valuable leads and, ultimately, increase sales.
How to Get Started
Now you’re more familiar with the amazing tool that blog posts can be, and you’re ready to start increasing your sales – but where to begin? Follow the tips below to get started.
Focus on Relevant, High-Quality Content
For your content to achieve results, it must build trust by capturing your brand’s tone and offering information that is relevant to your audience.
Avoid stuffing promotional content into your blog posts; while they are intended to increase sales, filling your posts with ads and product images rather than genuine content may cause your audience to lose confidence in your brand.
Blog posts should also follow SEO best practices, including correct keyword usage, readability, and links to external and internal content.
Be sure to adhere to correct grammar and spelling, and clearly reference any external content, too. No one wants to read an error-filled post that is riddled with typos!
Incorporate Blog Posts into Your Marketing Strategy
Writing high-quality, relevant blog posts is only part of the equation. The other is fitting your blog posts into your overall marketing strategy.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to plan a complex editorial calendar for your posts, but your blog should certainly be developed in tandem with your marketing goals and follow some kind of plan.
At a minimum, posts should be uploaded on a regular basis (e.g., every Wednesday; the 15th of each month; etc.) for consistency, but blog posts can also play a more prominent – even central – role in your brand’s marketing campaigns and themed content.
Consult a Professional
If managing a marketing strategy and blog content for your brand sounds overwhelming, consider consulting a professional. There are many services (such as okwrite) available to assist with tasks ranging from content creation to optimization to strategizing, depending on the unique needs of your business.
Don’t wait to improve your blog. Start today, and watch as your online sales grow – all thanks to your blog posts.
