Benefits of Developing and Maintaining a Lead Generating Blog

A blog is a critical aspect to any business’s website.

Setting up a blog is simple through most CMS’s, so there is no excuse to not have a blog.

Unfortunately, many companies don't know what to talk about or how often they should be producing content on their blog.

Blog frequency actually impacts customer acquisition. According to HubSpot, "92% of companies who blogged multiple times a day acquired a customer through their blog."

Don't just develop a blog and publish content once every 6 months. Develop and maintain a lead generating blog, where you are routinely publishing quality content that attracts and converts visitors.

Benefits of Actively Blogging

Improves Search Engine Rankings

Due to a recent algorithm change, content marketing is the new SEO.  Sites such as Google have adapted their rankings systems to find the highest quality content for your searches.  What easier way is there to generate high quality content on a consistent basis other than a blog?  Each time you are posting relevant quality content to your blog you are improving your website authority and, over time, you should start ranking higher on popular search engines.

Generate More Website Traffic

On top of progressively building up your SEO through posting, a blog provides you with a great opportunity to lure traffic to your website.  If you write about what your targets are looking for and use keywords effectively, you could have a leg up on your competitors in attracting new prospects.  In fact, companies that blog experience a 55% increase in traffic over those that don’t.  Writing a quality blog that people want to subscribe to will also substantially increase the likelihood of repeat visits to your site.

Establish Yourself as an Industry Expert

A blog is a great place to promote yourself and showcase what you know without coming across as a used car salesman.  Choose interesting industry topics and provide visitors with your expertise on the subject.  If your blogs are trustworthy and accurate, you have a much better chance of attracting customers.

Open a Two-Way Channel of Communication with Targets

The great thing about blogs is that they encourage two way communication.  Any blog worth its salt will give its readers the option to comment after reading.  The comments section allows readers to ask any questions that they may have, and could help inspire future blog posts.  Try to encourage users to comment by asking thought provoking questions in your posts.  Open dialogue is a great way to improve the likeability of your company.

If these aren’t reasons enough to blog, consider these statistics:

• Companies that blog has 2x as many Twitter followers than those that don’t

• Companies that blog have 97% more inbound links than those that don’t

• Internet users in the US spend 3x more time on blogs than they do on email.

What to Blog About

So you’re ready to get blogging, but you’ve reached a road block.  What in the world should you write about?  The simple answer here is to blog about anything industry related that you feel that your prospects will want to read.

If you’re still experiencing writer’s block, consider writing about any of these topics…

Respond to FAQs

The easiest place to find inspiration for a blog is your own FAQ page.  What questions are your prospects typically asking about your industry?  Answer these questions in a blog.  Monitor your comments and any contact you have from prospects for ideas on how to elaborate on specific topics.

Prospect Pain Points

When you are trying to drive your customers down the sales funnel, what are some of the worries that prevent your prospects from doing business with your company?  Try to calm their nerves with a blog article.  For example, if you are a landscaping business with customers worried about cost, consider writing a lighthearted article about all of the things a customer could do instead of worrying about their lawn.  Show the benefits that your product or service offers that helps relieve major pain points.

Industry News/Developments

What’s happening that is relevant to your business?  Maybe there was a recent federal regulation that will impact something related to your industry, or maybe a new invention will revolutionize the industry.  Stay abreast of current events and address these happenings in a blog article.  Let customers know what the news means for them and you will be simultaneously proving that you are staying on top of the newest technologies.

Leave Responses on Other Blogs

If you are really at a loss for ideas, try looking at some of your competitors.  What are they writing about, and what are people saying about it?  Don’t directly mimic their topics (and definitely do not copy ideas!), but try reading through their comments.  See what questions readers are asking and write about it, because these could be your prospects too.

How Often Should I Blog?

One of the most frequently asked blogging questions is how often should I blog?  The truth is there is no single right answer, but the best answer is as often as you can.  At a minimum you should be blogging once per day, but don’t put a cap on your creativity.  Encourage multiple writers to contribute to your blog.  There are only benefits that come with blogging.

Here are a few statistics to show how powerful blogging multiple times per day can be…

• Companies that blog 20 or more times in a month see the most return in traffic and leads.

• 78% of companies that update their blogs daily have acquired a customer from their blog.

• 92% of companies who blog multiple times per day have acquired a customer from their blog

Proper Blog Design

Proper design of a blog:

• Call to action banner at the top

• Proper name for the blog-don’t just call it blog

• Big subscribe box to give people a reason to subscribe

• Sidebar call to action

• Social media sharing on the sidebar

• Featured image on every post

• Every article should be sharable with social media

• Display at least 5 posts (excerpts from the posts)

• Make author’s name very visible so prospects can relate/connect