Why Your Business Should Have a Blog

My first date with my wife was a lunch date. She was flying from one country to another and had a layover in my city so I met her at a restaurant attached to the airport (true story). We’d met some weeks before in a group setting, traded phone numbers, and decided to get to know each other a little better with an actual date, just the two of us. There was tortilla soup and bloody marys and by the time she left to the gate an hour or two later, we decided we should have a second date. Our second date led to a third, then a fourth, and so on until we were married.

When thinking about a blog for your business, the best metaphor I can think of is the story above.  Contrary to general opinion, blog posts aren’t the wedding but rather the first date.  Then the second date. Then the third and so forth until the person you are courting decides to get serious. “Getting serious” in this instance is the person reading your blog post clicking over to the OTHER part of your website, the part where you detail services and solutions and what pain you can actually solve for them. Once they’ve done that, it’s time to think about leads and opportunities, and deals.  But until then, your job is to be as charming and appealing as possible.

 

And that’s what your blog can and should do.

Your business should have a blog because it shows your best self

Just as you’d presumably mind your appearance when you went out on a date, your blog allows you to show your best self to people curious about what you do and who you do it for. By taking the time to put thoughts into words and then edit those words, you have complete control over that first impression critical to earning new business. A blog gives you the chance to deliver the tone, tempo, and tenor of your business.  Is your brand casual and fun?  Is it serious and highly-technical? Whatever the case, your blog will give the reader their first impression of what type of people are behind the screen.  This impression starts (or stops) the reader’s want for more from you.

Your business should have a blog because it shows trustworthiness 

When we think of whose advice we trust most in life, it’s quite often the person or source that has helped us learn the most. Parents, teachers, mentors at work. These are the people from whom we learn and we trust what they share with us.

By sharing your knowledge on a company blog, you are building trustworthiness with people even before you realize it.  My friend Steve Zenghet of Zeek Interactive says, “if you’ve heard of me before I’ve heard of you…I did that on purpose, I had a hand in that.” Giving away your insights and perspectives creates not just gravity to you and your brand, but also reveals an honesty with the audience that turns into trust and then, in some cases, a business relationship.

Your business should have a blog because it shows expertise

By sharing your knowledge in a blog post, you are demonstrating to the reader that you are an expert on the subject matter in question.  A well-formed blog post is coherent and logical, often citing sources and other information to help educate the reader. In that case, the reader isn’t just learning more, they are learning more FROM YOU. 

When we think of who in our lives we consider experts, we think of a person’s experience with a certain subject.  A relative who a lawyer can be assumed to understand the law just as a relative who is a chef would presumably understand food.  You wouldn’t ask the chef how to file a lawsuit and ask the lawyer how to bake a cake, would you? 

Your blog should serve the same purpose: sharing your knowledge and sharing your experience is sharing your expertise. If your blog has dozens or even hundreds of posts related to the industry in which your business operates, you’ll be seen as an expert.

Your business should have a blog because some of your competitors don’t

A staggering number of businesses do not create content. Missing the opportunity to demonstrate your best self, show your expertise, and exhibit trustworthiness only comes after demonstrating that you exist in the first place. 

A blog is a chance to share your voice and point of view with your audience, whoever they may be. By simply being present you are in a unique position relative to so many competitors.  Business leader Chris Lema is fond of saying, “when I need to call on you, you have to be within pointing distance.” 

Your company blog keeps you within pointing distance for those looking for the solutions your company offers. 

Your business should have a blog because it is great for search engine rankings

This is fourth because blogs shouldn’t exist solely for gaining higher search result positioning. Content that exists only for SEO tends to be written for computers and algorithms. Content not written for real people is graffiti. 

However, search engines absolutely LOVE fresh content. New posts on your blog demonstrate to Google, Bing, and other search engines that you are active, relevant, and current. Additionally, more blog posts mean more opportunities for those crawlers to find you in the first place. Conversely, if you are relying only on a blog that isn’t regularly updated or that doesn’t exist at all then search engines will prioritize competitor sites above yours. 

Not blogging is a missed opportunity

There are countless reasons why your company should have a blog above and beyond those listed here. In the end, a business blog is a competitive advantage. It allows your best self to demonstrate expertise and trustworthiness to the reader. In our personal lives, we place great value on individuals that we can trust. Often, those individuals are experts at things. (Those aren’t the only things we value of course.)  Business is no different. Companies that can stand out from competitors, demonstrate expertise, reliability, and trustworthiness tend to thrive. Conversely, those sitting quietly in the corner and allowing their story to be told by someone else tend to struggle.

If you’d like to learn more about how we can help get your blog on track, contact us here. Our platform allows businesses of all shapes and sizes to scale their content with ease. From blog posts to ebooks to whitepapers, our team delivers the world’s finest content so founders and executives can focus on operating their businesses.