If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re probably waist deep in responsibilities. As a busy business owner it’s easy to overlook a key detail in gaining and maintaining an audience: how are you actually connecting with them? As a small business, you may not have the budget of a mega corporation on steroids but you can use other means of building your business muscles naturally.
One of the easiest ways to do this is simply by blogging relevant and interesting content. Yep. It’s that simple.
Check these stats:
- Among those who use e-mail marketing, companies that blog get twice as much traffic from their email than those who don’t, according to HubSpot.
- Companies with fewer than 10 employees typically allocate 42% of their marketing budget to content. (Source: Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs)
- Small businesses that blog get 126% more lead growth than small businesses that do not blog. (Source: ThinkCreative)
Here are the top 6 benefits of having a blog in tip-top shape:
1. Easy way to do market research.
When you post blogs, from your end you’ll be able to see how many views and engagement each one gets. Grab a protein shake and take a seat, you literally get the first look into what your audience enjoys the most. When you know what kind of blog content gets viewed the most consistently, then you have a better idea of what to continue to create to keep them coming back.
2. Communicate your “why”.
What is your purpose? This is so important to establish to ensure your branding is effective. Your blog is a perfect place to communicate your brand’s purpose. When you communicate a purpose that goes beyond what you sell, it can truly set you apart from your competition. For example, if you’re a business that promotes healthy high protein alternatives to eating meat, you may post animal welfare type of material on your site to drive home the fact that you stand for something and are focused on something more than just making money.
3. Show of your credibility.
Having a blog allows you to create a presence in your niche. You’re essentially providing free quality value and perspective to your consumers. Not only does this give you “street cred” with your competition, but it can give you credibility in the eyes of your potential consumers. According to Axonn Media, 60%of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content on its site. Then, they are more likely to invest in you and your service because you have already provided them with significant value from your blog
4. Offer promotions for your facility.
Hopefully you’re beginning to establish an audience that consumes your content pretty consistently. It may be a good idea to provide them something every now and then to show them you’re thankful for the support and also a motivation to keep them coming back and checking out your blogs. Maybe a free fitness class or a free body composition test? Something simple, yet valuable. Obviously you can spread coupons across social media, but it’s a good idea to compel your audience to continue to go back to your site.
Don’t overdo this! This shouldn’t be the sole purpose of your blog. Most of your content should be focused on providing valuable information, but every now and then you can toss in this sweet treat. Everything in moderation, right?
5. SEO boost.
Obviously it doesn’t matter much how aesthetic and cool your website looks if no one can find it. Womp womp. A key in getting online traffic, is making your site seen when people use search engines. As long as your content is relevant to your niche, it’s likely that you will rank for certain keywords. Here’s where you blog comes in. High quality, content filled blog posts are amazing for search engine optimization efforts. When you consistently produce useful content, google’s algorithms will rank your site higher. This makes a difference over time as your site may continue to creep up to being on the first page of search results!
6. SHOWS. YOU. ARE. HUMAN.
This may sound silly. Like of course we’re human, right? But with so much interaction done via internet these days and more often than not using email as opposed to face to face conversations, it can really be easy to forget there’s a real life person on the other side of the screen. It’s refreshing for someone when they can go to your site and read your blogs and feel like they get to know you a little bit better by your content and your voice in the blog. It’s an opportunity to be more than a business and let your personality shine through. So, use this opportunity to be just that… human. Don’t bombard your reader with a buncha business-y talk. They may not understand corporate talk, and they certainly don’t care. Keep it informal and relatable.
Health and fitness is already such a sensitive and personal topic for most people. Help them feel better about their journey by sharing yours. Vulnerability is scary but it rarely goes unnoticed or unappreciated.