Whilst working as a VA and social media manager, many of my clients, who were just starting out in social media marketing, would ask me do I really need a Blog? While some may disagree my answer was and still is yes. You see, blogging whether it be written, videos or audio isn’t just about providing extra content on your website it is so much more than that.
Firstly, blogging gives your business a voice. You can tell everyone you meet about your business, what you do, why you do it but, your message will always be limited by the number of people you can physically tell.
Your blog has the potential to reach hundreds, thousands, even millions more and the beauty of your blog is that your message won’t become diluted. It is there in black and white or in your own voice, it comes directly from you, instead of being passed along and put into someone else’s words. Through your blog, your message is far less likely to become a Chinese whisper.
Your blog is a direct channel of communication to your ideal clients. Done right it gives your ideal client the opportunity to see, read or hear the voice and purpose behind the business.
It can humanize your business in a way your website can’t and we all know people buy people and the connection they experience with them. Your blog will provide more connection and insight into the business’s values and personality which helps to instill your ideal clients’ confidence and trust in your abilities.
Providing content that Showcases your knowledge is far more than your about or services page because it positions you as both the expert and the influencer in your field.
Your blog is the place that you and your business can really shine and show your ideal clients just how great you really are.
A further point to consider is just how great a blog is for SEO.
Search engine optimization, at its most basic comes down to selecting the right keywords to use in your website copy. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. When researching keywords, not only do you have to consider the rate of competition for those words or phrases you also need to ensure they can be used in your copy in a way that flows with your message.
There are so many keywords and phrases for everything your business does, it’s just not possible to cover them all in your website copy.
A blog, however, gives you the opportunity to be recognized for much more.
Imagine being able to provide clear, detailed answers to all your ideal clients’ questions on your website, that is what your blog has the potential to do.
How many times have you typed in a question to your search engine? Try it now. I am willing to bet that the first page of the results will mostly if not all the links to blog posts. With the amount of competition online, the chances of you organically obtaining a place on the first page of the search engines results are greatly increased through your blog.
Another question I am commonly asked is, can’t I just use social media to do this?
Whilst I love social media and it is possible to build a business using only social media, I believe and my experience has shown that whichever social media platform you use, relying solely on this will limit your potential.
Your blog should be central to your social media campaigns for two reasons.
Firstly, let’s look at your sales Funnel or the sales funnels of the most successful business. They use social media to drive traffic to their blog or website, from here you were generally then invited to join their mailing list, which is where the selling takes place. Whilst there are times that you will have been invited to join a mailing list or purchase a product directly from social media the majority of these are sponsored posts, rarely will you see an organic post of this kind. Why? Because the platforms completely control what is shown in everyone’s newsfeed.
This brings me to the second reason, everything you post to your blog, hosted on your own website is owned by you and so you have complete control over what your visitors will see. Once you post something to social media, that post becomes the property of that platform. They have complete control of who sees it. Even to the extent that they can remove it and close down your account if they don’t like it or receive a complaint from a malicious troll. Believe me, it happens, I have seen people create a business page on Facebook, I have seen them build up a great following and yes make sales, only to have it closed down because a post had been marked as spam by some cruel troll. Now, even though this isn’t a common occurrence, it happens more than you realize and so with that knowledge are you willing to put the Fate of your business solely into the hands or algorithms of a platform? Why would you take that risk?
Use social media. Take advantage of all the opportunities it holds to increase your visibility but do not rely solely on it. See social media only as a platform to engage and build connections with your ideal clients.
My final point, is really more of a tip, use your blogging, as the means to create your lengthier content and then re-purpose snippets, quotes, paragraphs from your blog to inspire and easily create social media content.
Now, you tell me, do you really need a blog?
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