11 Benefits of blogging for small business owners in 2019

Is there any benefit of blogs? Of course there is. For decades, entrepreneurs have promoted their businesses through content marketing. However, the way in which content marketing has taken place has changed over the years.

Think of the invention of the printing press, the massive impact of television and then the explosion of digital technologies. A common trend throughout this evolution has been the fact that companies are constantly finding better ways to give more to customers and see greater benefits.

In recent years, one of those digital media that does that and creates value for your business is blogging.

Today we want to extend the benefits of blogging to business owners to show you why you should have a blog if you have not already done so. And if you do, we have some tips to help you see more benefits from your blogging efforts.

Gillette understood the benefits of blogs from the start

The best example that comes to mind is Gillette's transition from promoting their shavers through insertions of local newspapers on weekends to a compelling lifestyle blog that offers tips on shaving.

Blogging for business, the brand understood from the beginning that outbound advertising was becoming old-fashioned. The time had come to assert itself as an industry leader when people think about shaving.

They stayed away from exit strategies and began to adopt entry-level techniques such as blogs that create value for their customer base and help sell their products in a non-commercial way. This method feels better with customers.

This is true not only for large corporations but also for small businesses. The benefits of blogs are general and can positively affect all companies of all sizes.

As we saw in the previous example, the days when the only way to influence a buyer was to look for an advertisement printed in a local newspaper. Or announce a new product on prime time television with the hope that your target audience will see and act on your ad.

The dot-com boom changed a lot for business owners. And, above all, how they promote their business to attract buyers who come to the stores.

Today advertisers rely on something much more adaptable that creates value. Although the reach of online advertising is huge, we will focus on the topic of blogging and the benefits it brings to business owners like you.

Blogging for business owners

As a business owner, if you are a bit clueless about what exactly blogging is, let alone the benefits of blogging, there is nothing to fear. You are in the right place!

43% of business owners say they do not know what blogging is or do not actively blog for their business. In this era of online marketing, these businesses are likely to lose more customers and sales.

Spoiler alert! - 55% of those who do, use it as their number 1 marketing strategy and say they have benefited from it.

A blog is a collection of thoughts, facts and opinions of experts related to the business, the industry or its audience. It is a written information that is online and can be accessed by anyone visiting the company's website.

The World Wide Web has revolutionized the way business owners think about advertising. Not only in terms of media and publications. The way consumers consume media has changed.

By opening different avenues for information collection, this has caused companies to reconsider and often reconfigure their incoming marketing strategy.

Many companies now practice a strategy where consumers turn to them for information instead of promoting sales through exit strategies to spread knowledge about their products.

This, in our opinion, is one of the biggest benefits of blogs. The change in how companies do business.

But there are another 11 amazing benefits of the blogs that we wanted to share with you. And we think that, as a smart business owner, you should know this when it comes to blogging for your customers.

Here is some high level data to start:

·         Companies that publish regular content receive 8 times more traffic

·         Blogs help reduce total marketing spending by more than 60%.

·         Blogging helps achieve 3 times more potential customers

5 Benefits of blogging as first-hand experience with business owners

Show that you are an expert in your industry.

Blogs are an excellent way for companies to share knowledge with their clients about the industry or other relevant areas of interest. Successful companies constantly publish blog articles to assert their authority as industry leaders and experts in the field.

Help consumers build trust in their brand. A user who reads your blog often has a relationship with you and trusts you.

This is part of the entry strategy we mentioned earlier with Gillette. First, build trust with customers before trying to sell them in their products / services.

Industry example: Airbnb

The benefits of posting the image above on the blog are from the Belong Anywhere blog page on Airbnb. Connect readers with guest experiences and destination reviews.

When you think of cheap vacations, you will never miss to check Airbnb first.

Have you ever wondered what makes innovative companies like the leaders of the Uber & Airbnb industry and the provocateurs? Things like blogs are what makes customers planning their vacations.

Create value for your customers

Benefit: Add value to the customer's overall experience

People do not follow brands too sold. What is there to follow? No interesting stories from a lot of sales positions.

The most important benefit of blogs is creating value for their customers. You want to provide a better customer experience than your competitors. We cannot emphasize the importance of this enough.

Blogging without thinking about adding value to the customer experience is like walking without shoes. It does not make sense because they're going to hurt you.

With blogs, you give your customers something free before they make a purchase. Hoping that the free information will lead them to choose to buy on their own.

Some things you could share would be a useful checklist, ideas and recipes, etc.

The more your potential customers can get from you for free, the more loyal they will be when they become customers. Educating first before selling is always a good tactic!

Example of the industry: Etsy Marketplace

Etsy is a market for creative goods. It is a business based on electronic commerce such as Amazon, but for handmade decorative products such as handmade candles, home decoration, etc. From a commercial point of view, they make a bridge between sellers and users.

But what makes it so big and recognizable?

The fact that users trust them for their needs and creative ideas. A lot can be attributed to his entry strategy, which is his blog, Etsy Journal.

Testis blog consists of articles, checklists and ideas that do not directly promote your products, but instead, give ideas and inspire users. Its goal is to add value to its users who, in turn, trust the brand to meet their creative needs.

SEO

Search engine optimization is more than just a ranking. It is a long-term tactic to make your business visible above your competition in search engine results. There are a couple of ways to do that.

One of the ways is to write blog posts about keywords that your customers are looking for. This is a great way to make sure you're publishing relevant content. And when the search engine algorithms crawl, they find that their blog has used the popular keyword several times. Due to their relevance, they determine to rank their business in a higher position on the search results page.

There is a lot of optimization on the page and off the page, but this is one of the great benefits of blogging for business owners.

Benefit: Highest rank in search engine results.

Example of industry: insurance companies are the perfect example here. Have you ever searched on Google what to do after a car accident? You would probably see something like this. Search engine results the first three results are all from different companies. This highlights one of the most important benefits of blogging. Companies that blog constantly can take advantage of online tools to increase their search visibility. You can also generate more blog topics from the searches you find popular with your clients. This is a great tactic in the use of blogs to your advantage.

Collect emails

Business owners can use blogs as a way to collect emails from interested prospects by asking site visitors to subscribe to their blog posts. You can then add these users to your marketing funnel. Where you can send more communications and promotions about your business. The more points of contact you have with a client, the greater the likelihood that it will convert.

Benefit: Create email lists of interested customers for future marketing contact points.

Industry example: Beauty blogs use blogs for their benefit when it comes to collecting emails for marketing purposes. Beauty brands often give advice and best practices. As part of this experience, they encourage their readers and visitors to subscribe to their newsletters to receive consistent suggestions or features. This tactic can be applied to many other industries.

Demand Generation

Demand generation is the first step in lead generation tactics that capture interested or potential prospects through a contact form. Demand generation is the part where companies need to generate enough demand from the market to be able to sell them. Companies often use blogs and content presentations as a channel to advertise new products, features and inform customers about their brand and the solutions they can offer.

Benefit: create and cultivate an interest in your brand and products

Industry example: Apple

Apple is a great example of generating demand through the presentation of content.

Each year, when an iconic product or software is launched, Apple leaders offer a detailed master presentation to enthuse brand followers about the new release. Steve Jobs started this, and continues even after his death because it works.