Everywhere, content marketing is being pushed as the new(ish) magic for online business. However, most people don’t find writing easy, and it’s likely the market’s insistence on providing quality content is intimidating for most entrepreneurs trying to conduct business online.
Notwithstanding the various online writing apps and extensions available to help, the truth is: writing takes time to come easily.
Fortunately, web content does have a typical format, common tone, pace, and intent. However, those aspects take time to develop in new content writers, no matter if they’re journalists or chemical engineers.
So, how much time and energy does content marketing take, and what does it pay you in return?
In a nutshell?
It’s worth it.
It works.
In fact, statistics show a remarkable difference between companies that employ content marketing and those that don’t. While most sites’ blogs were previously an afterthought for most companies, its value has risen sharply as we all became fluent in how search engine algorithms work.
Should you use your blog for content marketing?
Whether you’re a writers’ portal or an IT support company like Mustard IT, blogging works for your online marketing purposes. Just like other marketing efforts, it takes time to do it well, but the effort can pay exponential dividends. Regardless of whether you struggle to write, it comes naturally for you, or if you’re paying someone to write it for you (not a bad idea at all), it’s not an outrageous percentage of your marketing effort.
Blogging might consume an entire day (which can seem wasteful to solo entrepreneurs, especially as no one pays you in cash as soon as you’re done), but its innate value is always there, latent and waiting to positively impact sales.
What is the value of blogging?
Looking at the nature of the blog page for a moment, it’s fair to say that it’s an elastic marketing tool that enables diverse approaches. A blog post (and an entire blog post collection) allows you to reinforce pitched offers, share opinions and interesting facts with customers, showcase who you are as a person and as a company, and even hit on some controversial topics that can lead to a viral sharing experience, however minor.
That’s the communicative value of blogging.
Plus, blog posts make for excellent SEO. If you’re posting quality content consistently to your blog, you’re seen as fresh, active, and authoritative by Google and other search engines.
This is very good for sales.
Talking statistics, research shows companies that consistently create content experience conversion rates almost six times that of others who aren’t focused on content marketing.
Brand awareness generated by your blogging can drive around 3.5 times more traffic to your site. Crucially, content also builds trust – a strong component of successful online sales.
Keep your site and blog updated to maintain authority and freshness!
When you enter a site with an old, static blog page that’s barely populated, it feels like no one’s home, right?
Unfortunately for those not predisposed towards populating a regular and dynamic blog page, those who are putting in the effort will make you look bad. Users today expect to find a well-stocked blog when they find businesses online.
Even if it’s only to go “I don’t have time for that!”, they want to see it – and you’ll make the positive first impression you need to make when your actively publishing content to your blog.
Your blog is a business tool, not a social platform.
From people actively engaging with you on a blog post to people stepping over it on the way to checkout, it’s all good. It says what you need to say, regardless of how extensively customers interact with your posts or not.
Blogging’s value is both sharply defined and vague
Analytics shows you if you’re reaching people (or not).
Indeed, analytics can tell you in remarkable detail how successful your blog post is in terms of your overall marketing strategy.
There’s latent value in the visible and invisible impact of a blog post.
The latent value of content lies in the “unseen responses” to you blog posts, where you don’t know the impact it’s had – but that might be coming to pay dividends.
The visible impacts are your bread and butter, the step-by-step measurement needed to determine growth in reach. The invisible impacts (you never know who leaned over someone’s shoulder and read your post) hold the potential for business ‘appearing out of thin air’, and that value cannot be overstated.
Blogging’s value is paradoxically both sharply defined and extremely vague – but it is valuable, both the analytically demonstrated effects of your content and the unfathomable potential of your words floating “out there”.
While you may have no idea what kind of profitable response you might generate from a blog post written months ago, we do have an idea of how much organic traffic people who don’t post content can expect.
Almost zero.
Consistent content marketing = naturally active and dynamic businesses.
The best online marketing is built on strong content that’s actively disseminated across platforms.
Blogging’s greatest value lies in being an active, dynamic business (people can see this from your blogs) as opposed to a static, aloof one. Not only does blogging grow your organic reach, but it also gives you great content to share across platforms. You’ll always have something to say, share, or tie back into.
When you have good content, marketing in every other way is easier.
Reviewing the innate value of using your business blog for content marketing
With the general rule being “more is better than less” when it comes to content, do it!
Start the process and you’ll leave those less dynamic behind. Blogging is proactive SEO marketing, and creates an informative space for new customers when they enter your site.
In a nutshell, blogging is valuable, and – perhaps even more than attracting organic customers – it makes for returning customers.
It shows who you are.
It shows you’re looking for conversation, and that resonates with buyers who will likely return.
Make it high value, no matter who your audience is. Videos are alluring because they don’t require as much intelligent thought, so a good mix of graphics and text posts are advisable.
You must engage your clients and customers, and that means skating along the line of genuinely noteworthy news topics (and perhaps even some controversial ones).
Whatever your ploy to engage readers (and keep them reading), do your homework and offer only high value content. If done correctly, blogging will not only pay you back in profits, but build your reputation and reach on the web.
