An often overlooked aspect of your website is the blog. Many small business owners do not understand or appreciate the value of the blog section of their website. You might be thinking why create a blog? Why bother blogging when you have your very own website that is supposed to display all the information about what you do and what services or products you sell?

Well, the truth is that there are many reasons you will want to add a regularly-updated blog section to your website. From increasing the number of visitors to your site, to providing informative and educational content that helps your customers better understand your products and services, your blog’s role in your business is multi-faceted.

With that in mind, let’s explore what a blog is, and why you need to make it an important feature of your website sooner rather than later. 

What Is A Blog? 

The word blog is actually an abbreviation of web log. They first started out as an online journal or diary where a person could share their thoughts and opinions on just about anything.

The vast amount of topic choices made blogs very popular with everyone from writers, to CEOs, and regular individuals talking about all kinds of subjects. It didn’t matter whether someone was writing about their love of classic cars or the next phase of the internet, blogs were public online spaces to note down your thoughts on something.  

However, today blogs serve very specific purposes. They are often used by businesses to build a following, keep customers informed of upcoming products or services, and answer some of the most common questions asked about their products and servicing. They also play a pivotal role in shaping the SEO strategy of a business website, as we’ll now explain. 

Blogs Are A Great Way to Increase Your Website’s Visibility on Search Engines

By consistently churning out fresh, interesting, informative, and easy-to-read blogs you are helping search engines like Google learn more about what your business does and thus ranking your website higher in the search results. This means more people will visit your site when they perform a search for something related to what you do, as your website will be full of keywords that match those queries.

They also help with links too. You see, one of the most important metrics used to rank your site in search engine results is how many other sites link back to yours. The more links there are to your site, and the higher quality those links are from reputable websites on related topics, the better your chances of being ranked high on search results pages.

In this regard, the stats speak for themselves. Companies that blog receive 97% more links to their websites, and websites with a blog are shown to have 434% more indexed pages. Adding a well-maintained blog section to your website can be even more potent than choosing the right hosting provider, such is the impact they can have on search engine performance. 

Blogs Provide a Place to Supply Content That Educates and Informs Your Customers 

Blogs on your site should also act as an excellent source of educational information for your current and potential customers. You may not be aware, but blogs are actually one of the most popular ways for customers to learn about products and services. Over 80% of internet users read blogs and they are considered the 5th most trustworthy source of information, making it the perfect medium for informing and educating your audience. 

It’s crucial to remember that a blog helps answer questions that your customers may have about your products or services. Rather than waiting for them to ask these questions when they contact you on the phone, by email, or in person, it is often better in terms of time management and efficiency to post those answers online where they can be accessed whenever your current or potential customers need them.

If you don’t know the answers, then you can investigate, do research, and then post an article discussing what you found out in a way that is easy to understand for your audience. Using this technique will help improve customer satisfaction and loyalty since they now have a source of information on their preferred topics related to your offerings.

Adding Regular, Fresh and Updated Blog Content Builds a Following and Drives Traffic to Your Site

Blogs can build loyal followings in their own right because they provide fresh, new, and interesting content that people will want to read. Also, the more frequently you post, the more likely you are to attract and retain an audience of readers who wish to hear what you have to say on any given subject matter. In other words, they help you to become a thought leader in your specific industry.  

Another reason they are so popular for business websites is that they humanise your business or brand. The more human and approachable you can make your site, company, or brand, the more likely it is that people and other businesses will want to do business with you. When people see a business with owners and employees just like them, they are much less hesitant to buy an item or enlist their services than they otherwise might be if they think of your website as being owned and operated by some large, faceless entity.

When you post blog content regularly, some of your customers might even periodically check back in on your site to see if you have added any new articles and to keep themselves updated on your latest news or developments. This helps build a following and increases the amount of web traffic that comes directly to your site (without the help of search engines). 

Of course, more traffic tends to result in more leads for your business. It’s why companies that blog receive over two-thirds more leads than those that do not.  

Choose McGinn & Dolphin to Oversee the Implementation of a Blog Section to Your Business Website 

Here at McGinn & Dolphin, not only can we help you to incorporate a blog section into your organisation’s website, but we can also supply fresh, engaging, keyword-optimised content to help improve SEO performance, increase traffic, and drive up sales. 

With our monthly website maintenance packages, not only do you benefit from our web design experience, but you also receive the following:

• 1 x 500 Word Focused Keyword Blog

• Checking Broken Links and Monitoring Search Engine Performance of Your Site

• Regular Plugin Audits and Updates

• Check Domain Health and Hosting Annually

• Google Analytics Reporting

To learn more about how a blog can transform the performance of your business website, please book a discovery call with our team today.