15 reasons why having a blog is good for your business
Simply put, a blog is an online journal that, when strategically used, can increase sales and help you network more successfully.
Blogs can be a simple method for advertising and showing off what you have to offer to a wide range of internet users. You can take advantage of blogging by targeting your blog posts to the audience who are increasingly using it to learn more about particular topics or products. This method of boosting sales can save you a lot of money over other media outlets.
Building your business can be a difficult task. You can work on your business for hundreds of hours, but if key elements are missing, your efforts will be in vain. Today business owners are realizing that blogging boosts business.
Blogs are typically only seen as personal places to express yourself and your views. The truth however is, blogs are also great places to reach people about your business or your products.
In addition to the aforementioned thoughts, the following are 15 solid reasons why you should have your own business & personal blog.
1. Your business name get to be famous and recognized.
The fastest way to get your business’s name out in the public is to make it known to your targeted marketing group. If you want to get your business name out to men who like farming, then you can find a blog that is about just that.
When you find the blog pertaining to this marketing group, post useful and intelligent information about topics that pertain to your company. You might not want to sound like an advertisement. Think about responding to another comment and simply tagging your signature with your company’s blog.
This is a subtle way to get their attention. The more you post on blogs, the more widely known your company’s name will become. When they tell their friends and family about the site then your consumer group will have grown even more.
This is a fast way to get started. You will have to invest some time however. At least an hour a day can be used for this type of task.
2. Provides Global Exposure/Online presence:- You won’t be restricted to local business anymore because the Internet is accessible to everyone in the world. Anyone can search for your product or service. No longer are face-to-face meetings necessary for business development, nor do you need to rely on people passing by your store or hearing a radio advertisement.
3. Saves Time- You will save time by only getting inquires from customers that are genuinely interested in your business. You will no longer have to answer customer phone calls and meet with customers, only to find out that they are no interested in what you provide. Instead, they are able to read about your business online, and then decide whether or not they are interested in doing business with you.
4. Saves Money- Print ads, and commercials can become very expensive, and often cost each time they are ran. A blog typically has a one-time setup fee and then a small monthly hosting fee. In fact, the majority of small businesses only pay about 3-10 dollars a month for their website after the initial cost.
5. You can monetize your blog. Apart from sharing your products and services on your blogsto your targeted audience, you can equally make money from your blog through affiliate marketing or Google adsense. Blogs and RSS feeds are good revenue streams.
You can add pay-per-click ads, affiliate ads, or sell ad space on your blogs. In fact, many PPC companies also provide the ability to add PPC to your RSS feeds.
6. When you have an online business, you can make money while you sleep. Your store is open 24 hours a day with customers from all over the world visiting and making purchases. Therefore, you need to have a secure way of paying for the products so that customers can use their credit cards and feel safe about doing so.
Buying by credit card is the only way to be sure of getting your money online. If you sell products, ship them to the customers and wait to get your money by check or money order, you are running the risk of not getting paid at all or of receiving fraudulent checks.
There are may businesses online that will process the credit card payments for a low monthly fee, which means you don’t have to set up a merchant account of your own. PayPal and CCNow are two examples of these sites.
7. Convenience for customers– Finding a good business to provide the service or product you need has never been easier for the customer. Today, it is as simple as looking up local businesses online.
In fact, studies show that about 75% of all new customers begin their search online. If you do not have a website, then you are missing out on a big piece of the marketing pie.
Practical Guide to Monetizing and setting up a business blog (A step by step guide with Images)
8. Consumer Testimonies/Feedback
Your company might even think about hiring professionals to website for your company. You can offer these employees products to try and give them the task of finding blogs where they can appropriately “praise” the product.
By paying these people to do the task, you will be getting the work done that you need without having to devote much time. Consumer testimonials go a long way with other consumers. If these blogs are productive enough, you will see an increase due to it.
9. Blogs can help you establish or build your reputation in a particular field. As your blogs grows you will demonstrate your knowledge in your chosen niche.
10. A blog can help you attract new customers. Your blog entries (posts or articles) will become fodder for search engines and will attract new visitors. If your blog answers the visitors’ question or attracts their interest you have just found another qualified lead.
11. Blogs are great ways to generate leads. Even if you don’t want to put any advertising on your blog, you can use it to promote or capture leads for your own programs. These are great leads as the fact that they came from your blogs means they are already interested in your topic and predisposed to your individual message.
12. By sharing your valuable knowledge, you’re giving your customers a reason both to stay and to return. It’s a proven fact that the more time a user spends on a site, the more likely they are to purchase something. The more your readers return for your expertise, the more you increase your sales.
13. The familiar tone of blogs creates a window for buyers to see there’s a real person behind your site. The internet’s an impersonal selling medium, but the personal nature of websites creates an element of customer trust and loyalty to your brand.
14. Building Relationships
Smart business owners know that they can go further with the help of others. A great way to connect and build relationships with other businesses is via their blogs. If you are a regular poster who values their business, they will be more likely to work with you.
Working together with advertising is a great idea. You can swap ad space for no fee if you like. These are great things for business owners and are easy to get into when you blog regularly.
15. You can do it yourself.
There is much more to starting an online business than just having a product to sell and setting up a blog. In order to turn this into a profitable business, you have to reach the customers. This means that you have to rank high in the search engines – at least in the top 20.
If you are wondering why this is so, just think of the many times you searched for something on the Internet. How often did you continue pages the first two screens of results? If you are like most searchers, if you don’t find what you are looking for in the first two pages, you try another search term.
The words you write have a direct impact on how successful your online business will be. You have to be aware of keyword search optimization so that the major search engines will pick up your site. You can submit to the search engines for free, but the words you write will determine your ranking.
You have to consider how you will get the products to the customers. Shipping charges are quite expensive, so you can add more to the cost of the product and offer free shipping to entice more customers to buy. Another option is to have shipping charges added to the total cost that the customer has to pay, but you must have this printed right on your website. Customers need to know this right up front.
As you can see, blogs can be a great way to do business. It may seem like tricky advertising, and it is in some ways. However, it is free advertising that does the same thing as a commercial on television does. It reaches a targeted marketing group and lets them know your company’s name, and products, and sometimes offers an endorsement.
Overall, it is an effective way to get your business out there. When people have no idea who you are, they are not going to feel comfortable working with you. The better your reputation is, the more likely they will trust you. When you have no reputation at all, they will not trust you either. So, even if you just want to use blogs to build your company’s reputation, it will go a long way.
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