Do you ever wonder if business blogging is still relevant? Business blogging is a lot of effort, so it’s good to know whether or not your efforts will pay off.
Throughout the years, many people have claimed that blogging is dying out. But is blogging really dead, or is this just a misconception?
Evidence suggests that blogging is still as relevant as ever.
SEO and Blogging – Get Found Online
Did you know, according to The Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics by Hubspot in 2018, Google was responsible for 94% of organic traffic to websites.
When you look deeper into this statistic, you’ll realize that the majority of organic searches still lead to written content like blog posts, static website pages or even forums.
This means blogging is a very useful tool to help people find your business online through Google searches.
But running a blog isn’t just for big corporate companies. Small, local businesses can also benefit from the improved SEO blogging offers. Also listed on Hubspot’s report, is a list item that stating that 72% of internet users who do a local search, will eventually visit a store within five miles.
When you run a blog, you’ll have more content for Google to list in searches. That’s one of the main ways in which blogging improves your SEO. But this isn’t the only reason why blogging can improve your SEO. Blogging is also useful in improving your SEO behind the scenes by:
- Encouraging links from one page on your website to another
- Creating trustworthy outbound links and gaining inbound links
- Keeping your website regularly updated
- Adding more keywords across your content
- Improving your website’s bounce rate
There are still many other marketing and SEO advantages to blogging.
The more content you publish, the better chances you have of getting listed in searches. Some research even suggests that the benefit you get from your content has a snowball effect. The more posts you have, the more likely Google is to recognize your content and list it.
Despite this, no one is completely sure what algorithms Google uses when deciding what content to list in searches. What everyone does agree on, is that Google loves blogs – especially good ones with quality content!
The State of Blogs: Recent Business Blogging Statistics
To say that blogging could theoretically benefit your SEO marketing efforts is one thing, but perhaps you’re interested in seeing some numbers.
No problem! Here are some recent statistics:
- Businesses who blog have 434% more pages indexed in search engines
- Companies that blog receive 97% more links to their website
- B2B companies that blog get 67% more leads than those that don’t
- 82% of marketers who blog consistently saw a positive ROI in their inbound marketing efforts
- Once a blog has 21 to 54 posts, blog traffic can increase by up to 30%
The above examples all show how effective blogging can be for your business in terms of search engine optimization and getting new customers online. But SEO isn’t the only way your blog can attract traffic.
Benefits of Blogging for Online Marketing
In a way, your business blog is at the center of your online marketing. Other online marketing channels can almost all be combined with your blog to improve your online marketing as a whole.
Blogging works great when combined with other forms of online marketing.
Sharing Blog Posts on Social Media
You can, for instance, improve your social media marketing by sharing your blog posts on your business’ social profiles. By sharing blog posts on your business social media, you can in turn attract traffic to your website from these social sites.
Building an Email List
Email marketing is another example of a from of online marketing that works best when combined with blogging.
Most marketers report an excellent ROI from email. On average, for every $1 marketers spend on email marketing, it yields $38 revenue. That’s an excellent ROI, but you’ll need to build a proper email list before you can expect anywhere close to that from email.
Before you can expect any benefit from email marketing, you’ll first need a blog to help grow your email list.
Combining Video with Traditional Blogging
Nowadays, some people might argue that video is taking over, and that this video revolution will cause blogs to die out. However, blogging and video also work well together.
According to statistics, blog posts with a video included increases organic traffic by 157%. So if you’re interested in adding video as an online marketing tool, your blog is still the ideal place to share your videos so they’ll get found online.
By growing your blog, you’ll get the maximum benefit out of your email list and video marketing.
Just don’t feel overwhelmed and pressured to do everything all at once. Start your blog before you venture into email and video. Focus on growing your blog first and then add other marketing channels as you go along.
To conclude, a business blog can still offer many benefits and blogging certainly isn’t dead. Your blog is the start of an online marketing journey that could take you to so many other amazing places. All you have to do is rise to the opportunity.
So what’s stopping you? If you’re not blogging yet, today is the perfect time to start!
Or if you already have a blog, but you haven’t been keeping it updated, it’s never too late. Now is still a great time to invest in the future of your content. It’s an investment that could reap benefits for your online marketing over many other platforms for many years to come.
Joy Healey
2 Dec 2019Good arguments in favour of the effort of blogging.
If I get discouraged I remind myself that just over a year ago Facebook unpublished the business page I had worked hard at creating and had paid Facebook (only!) to advertise to find me fans.
I never understood what I had done to upset them so that I could remove it. All I got was a generic “broken T&Cs” message and I couldn’t for the life of me see what was wrong 🙁
Joy Healey – Blogging After Dark
Rozanne Wilds
2 Dec 2019Hi Joy,
That’s strange. It’s notoriously difficult to connect with Facebook when they do these kinds of things. Hope you were able to build a new page and following.