5 Reasons Why Small Business Owners Need a Small Business Blog
I haven’t published a blog post in four months. So, it’s not lost on me that I’m writing a blog post about why small business owners like myself need to write more blog posts. The truth is, it’s hard to create and maintain a blog while juggling multiple clients and projects. A blog, like a newsletter (which I’m also guilty of abandoning) and social media platforms (which I’ve been pretty good about maintaining), are all content marketing channels that are designed to advertise your business.
These channels are often pushed to the side because small business owners don’t see the importance of them or they’re too busy running their business to put any effort into advertising. As a small business owner whose job is to actually help people maintain these platforms, I know what it’s like to prioritize my work over my blog.
Ultimately, writing a blog is a long game. You might not see your gains right away — if at all. One of the reasons why I’ve personally been pushing off writing for my blog is because it’s difficult to see its value when the return on investment isn’t immediate. As someone who writes for a living, writing without pay is hard to stomach. It feels like I should use all my time and energy to write for my clients.
But here’s what happens when I don’t invest in my own content marketing channels: people might not be able to find me. I won’t exist. And even if I do exist, people won’t have a reason to hire me. They won’t see the value that I offer or know why I’m the right person for the job. With a blog, I can show people why I have authority in social media management and content marketing. Below, read about all the reasons why every small business owner should have a blog and how it could grow your small business.
1: Blogs Can Help You Become Discoverable on Google
The main reason why I’m a big believer in blogs (yes, even in 2021), is because Google favors content and searchable keywords. If a potential client is searching “gold jewelry” on Google, then you’ll want to be one of the first sites that pop up on the first page of Google. To do that, you’ll need to be utilizing SEO keywords in a blog post. Now you’ll have an opportunity to be visible to potential clients on Google. (Of course, this doesn’t mean blog posts are only discoverable on Google. SEO keywords are important to utilize in your website copy, shopping products, and all writing on your website).
Also, Google prefers websites that are updated consistently. “By uploading a new blog post at least once a month, you’re adding new content to your site, and giving search engines another new opportunity to crawl that content for information to recommend to their users and populate in a SERP,” Between the Lines Copy aptly writes in her SEO guide.
2: Blogs Can Boost Domain Authority (DA)
The more backlinks you have (which are links on other people’s websites that link back to your site), the more of a chance you’ll have to increase your DA. Domain authority is “a search engine ranking score that predicts how likely a website is to rank on search engine result pages (SERPs).” The higher your DA, the higher you’ll rank, and be discoverable on Google search. If you don’t have blog posts, you won’t have backlinks for other sites to link back to.
In a nutshell, creating great blog posts will help boost your DA because other sites are more likely to use your content and link to your site. In turn, a higher DA means you’ll be up against new competitors. You can now tweak your blog SEO strategy by looking at which keywords your competitors are ranking for.
3: Blogs Can Help You Connect With Your Audience
Whether you’re an influencer who runs a lifestyle Instagram account or a designer who has a clothing line, blog posts give followers a more in-depth behind-the-scenes view of what you’re selling. Selling your lifestyle? Write blog posts about your favorite travels and restaurants. Selling clothes? Write blog posts about the design process and runway shows.
Through these blog posts, your followers will have more of a personal connection to your brand and may be more likely to follow you or purchase from you.
4: Blogs Can Diversify Your Revenue Streams
If you sign up for affiliate programs, blog posts can be a great way to use affiliate links. For example, if you’re writing a blog post about traveling to Miami, you can hyperlink to flight deals, sightseeing tours, and other affiliate links in your program and receive a commission on any sales or clicks.
Once your MSV (monthly search volume) reaches 50k or even 100k from producing quality blog posts, you can sign up for ad agencies (depending on their MSV requirements), which can bring in passive income. If people click or buy from the relevant ads that start popping up on your website, you can earn a solid living from that revenue.
5: Blogs Give You Authority
Forget about domain authority for a minute. Blog posts can show your clients that you have authority in your business! For example, if you’re a social media manager (like me), blog posts can show your potential clients to see how knowledgeable you are about social media? That doesn’t mean you have to give away all of your secrets. But it does mean that people will take notice of your abilities and be grateful for your free resources. Hopefully, those free resources turn into loyal, paying clients.
Overall, this 1,000-word article (the SEO gods say to write at least 1k words per post), took me less than two hours to write. Even with my boatload of work and my own Instagram account that I manage, I’m definitely going to try to write one blog post per week. Wish me luck!
Having a hard time keeping up with a blog? Don’t know how to write SEO-focused blog posts that will get seen on Google? Contact wordofmouthwriter@gmail.com to learn more about how I can help your small business thrive through blog posts.
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