If you have a website but not a blog, this one’s for you.
Many business owners decide to skip a blog when they put up their first website, most likely because 1) they don’t know what to write about, 2) they don’t want to commit to writing regularly, or 3) both.
And hey, I get it. Doing something new is always scary, but remember: it’s also how you grow and get to someplace different from where you are.
Below are the five reasons I share with my clients who are reluctant to start a blog. And you better believe these reasons cause about 90% of them to change their minds. Enjoy!
It’s the best path towards prospects finding you online i.e. SEO success
Most new business owners think there is one magic bullet that will instantly give them “good SEO” and have prospects finding them on Google immediately. Not so. However! SEO is most definitely something well worth working on over time so that at some point you will start to reap the rewards. And blogging is one of the best ways to get there.
It shows your prospects you know your stuff!
As a web designer, it would not be tactful for me to make posts on LinkedIn that say “I’m a web designer! I know lots about web design! Here are some of the many things I know!” This sounds pompous, ridiculous, and would turn off readers, right? However, when you blog, it’s a win-win: your readers get to learn things they need to know about your area of expertise, and you get to let everyone know (in a highly tactful way) that you know your stuff.
It drives traffic to your website.
It’s not a coincidence that the first thing I do after finishing a blog is post it on all my social media channels. Blog posts are an excellent way to get people to visit your website. Think about it: they click the link to your blog post, they enjoy reading it, and then while they’re on your website, they click on your services page to learn more about what you do. Even if they don’t become a client this day, it’s one more person in the world who knows about what you do, and that’s a good thing.
It gives you a reason to start an email list.
Speaking of driving traffic to your website, once you start a blog, there’s no reason not to start an email list as well. Simply put the beginning of your blog post in an email that goes out to your list, and then link to the full blog post on your website. This is a great way to get more readers while also increasing your website traffic.
It’s an introvert’s dream.
If you’re an introvert like me, blogging is a wonderful way to market your business from the privacy of your own home – no networking or public speaking required. That being said, if extroversion is more your thing, here’s what you do: start a podcast instead, and every time you publish an episode? You guessed it: post a transcription of it on your blog with a link to listen. It’s an instant 2fer.
In Closing
There are many great reasons to start a blog: it makes you a thought leader in your industry, gets you more website visitors, and builds up your SEO over time. Make that commitment. Even if you’re writing just one post per month to start, it’s better than nothing. And like anything else, it gets easier as you go.
