Blogging, and almost anything else connected to improving organic traffic is a lot like looking for gold in the same spot where thousands of people already looked, hoping you will do something different and get rich.
Most people don’t. But those who persevere long enough to find one little golden nugget no one else saw – they do.
They get rich.
Maybe not rich.
But you get the idea.
Starting a blog for your business has never been easier, and yet, it might still seem daunting.
If you already have a WordPress website, in a few clicks, you can add a blog section to it.
It is the same with every other CMS out there, and in the odd case that you don’t use a CMS, creating a WordPress blog and connecting with a subdomain is also a piece of cake.
So, why don’t you already have one?
Is it because you know the action of creating a blog is easy, but the research and work to do it properly aren’t? Do you already know the time it takes to research keywords, understand your audience, and then, write? And write a lot?
Why Do You Need a Small Business Blog?
Considering a crazy possibility that you don’t know, or don’t think, a blog can help your business, let’s tackle that problem first.
There are two main reasons why your small business needs a blog:
- Search engines will love you more.
- Blog posts are a great way to connect with your audience.
What Google Has to Do With Your Blog?
When you delve into keyword research, you will find high-volume and difficult-to-rank keywords that you should, mostly, avoid.
But you will also find keywords that are low in volume, high in relevance, and low in competition – long-tail keywords.
Long-tail keywords are perfect for driving organic traffic to your website, and the best way to target them is using blog posts.
Posting on your blog regularly also helps with two more important SEO factors:
- Users will stay longer on your website
- You are posting relevant and regular content
Both of these factors help build your website’s relevance and authority, crucial terms in search engine optimization.
Finally, a blog is a great opportunity to create more on-site links to relevant pages on your website.
Yet, this also means your blog posts have to be well thought out.
You only want to link to relevant pages, and not too often.
Blogging for Your Audience
Your audience will appreciate your blog posts because you can answer their questions and show your expertise in each post.
One way to think about blogging is like answering longer-form FAQs. Pick a question your audience often asks, and answer it in a blog post.
But here is the kicker. Answer it, while also optimizing your post for the search engines.
The more posts you have and the more questions you can answer, the more your audience will trust you. If your audience trusts you, they will visit your website often, linger longer, and possibly, buy a product or two.
Eventually, all that lingering, clicking, subscribing, and commenting will also get noticed by the search engines, and your rank will improve.
And thus, we come to a conclusion.
Blogging about topics relevant to your small business and your audience will improve both your organic traffic and, eventually, conversion rates.
When is the Best Time to Start a Blog?
The best time to start your blog is before you even start your business.
Creating a blog takes time and research.
Audience research takes time.
Keyword research takes time.
Creating content calendars takes time.
And writing, writing takes a lot of time.
First, you need to determine keywords that will help your website rank. Then, think about how to turn that into blog content.
And then get into the nitty-gritty of content writing – catchy headlines, grabbing first-liners, valuable content, optimized for search engines, etc.
Exactly because all of this is such a long process, and it is a long process, you need to start soon. The best thing to do is to plan ahead.
When you know your starting date, the date you are bringing your business online, your blog should be up and running together with the rest of your website
Therefore, before that date, you need keywords, enough post ideas for a few upcoming months, and enough already written content for those moments when you don’t have the time to think, and much less write.
I know, the whole thing sounds like a lot of time.
And it is time-consuming.
It is also crucial.
In fact, a blog is the foundation of all content marketing, you need it if you want your online business (or your online presence of a brick-and-mortar business) to succeed.