The Marketing Benefits of Blogging for Businesses – Boosting Website Traffic, SEO Ranking, and Brand Authority

Introduction

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, businesses must adapt to stay relevant and competitive. Blogging has been an effective way to organically reach people. A blog can serve as a powerful marketing tool that can help your business grow, engage with your audience, and establish your brand’s authority in the industry. We will explore 10 marketing benefits of blogging for businesses. Whether you’re a small startup or a well-established corporation, understanding the value of a blog can take your marketing strategy to the next level.

The Power of Blogging for Businesses

Improving Online Presence and Driving Website Traffic

For businesses, blogging is an effective way to improve their online presence and drive traffic to their website. They can establish themselves as industry experts and build trust with their target audience through blogs. This can then lead to increased engagement, loyalty, and conversions. A consumer might read a corporate blog in order to address common questions and concerns that potential customers may have. In fact, research has shown that a significant portion of consumers rely on blogs for purchasing decisions. By offering solutions and insights, businesses can position themselves as problem-solvers and generate leads.

Blogging is not dead! In fact, it’s more alive than ever before. According to a survey by blogginghelpline.com, the number of bloggers in the United States was expected to reach 31.7 million in 2022. These numbers are a clear indication that blogging is not dead, but a powerful tool for businesses to attract and engage their audience. If you haven’t started blogging yet, it’s time to start! Now that you know why blogs are good and why blogging is important for businesses, let’s dive into how blogs are a powerful marketing tool.

Incorporating a Blog into Your Marketing Strategy

In simple terms, blogging involves creating and publishing content on a website in the form of blog posts. When done right, blogging can provide many benefits for businesses of all sizes, from boosting search engine rankings to building relationships with customers. There are several benefits of incorporating a blog into your business’ marketing strategy, including boosting SEO ranking, driving website traffic, and proving brand expertise. Whether you’re a small business owner or a marketing professional, this guide will provide you with valuable insights on how to leverage blogging to achieve your marketing goals.

Boosting SEO Ranking

This is one of the biggest reasons why your business needs a blog. Incorporating a blog into your business’s marketing strategy can significantly benefit your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) ranking. When a business creates fresh, high-quality content that includes relevant keywords and phrases, search engines can better understand what their website is about. One way to optimize your blog posts for SEO is by conducting keyword research. Identifying relevant keywords and phrases that potential customers might use to search for your products or services and incorporating them into your blog posts can improve their visibility and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). However, it’s crucial to avoid keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing is overusing specific keywords or phrases in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings and drive more traffic to a website. This can result in penalties from search engines.

For example, Augurian worked with Unity College, a growing environmental college in Maine, to increase enrollment and brand awareness. We developed a data-driven blog strategy to achieve those goals. The strategy included optimizing career guide blog content for search engines to gain organic traffic and promote degrees associated with the careers. As a result of the campaign, the blog post for “environmental science careers” attracted over 10,000 pageviews, six figures of conversion value where the post played any part in a potential student’s interaction, and over 50,000 total pageviews in under six months. Looking to improve your website’s search engine ranking beyond just blogging? Augurian’s SEO services focus on optimizing your entire website for search engines, not just your blog. With technical on-page and off-page optimization, Augurian’s services can drive more organic traffic to your site and increase your leads and conversions.

Building Domain Authority with Backlinks

Domain authority is a metric that determines a website’s ranking in SERPs, considering factors such as inbound links’ quality and quantity, content relevance, and trustworthiness. Backlinks, also known as inbound links or incoming links, are links from other websites pointing to your website. Blogging is a great strategy to build domain authority by creating quality content that other websites want to link to. When other sites link to your blog posts, it signals to search engines that your content is valuable and relevant. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the higher your domain authority and search engine rankings can be. Backlinks can have a significant impact on your website’s visibility, search engine ranking, credibility, and trustworthiness.

For example, Augurian created a high-funnel blog for an exterior remodeling business. This blog earned a high Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust score (E-E-A-T score) from Google. Due to this, the blog post earned the featured snippet and has been featured on Google Discover, where over 10,000 users have seen it. The blog post attracted over 12,500 pageviews and contributed to an increase in organic traffic by 163% in one year. Through consistent and informative blog posts, businesses can establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry.

Establishing Brand Authority

Companies can prove their expertise and establish trust with their audience by providing valuable insights, tips, and advice. When consumers are looking for information related to an industry, they will likely turn to the brand’s blog for guidance. Google rewards companies that publish well-crafted content on their blogs by increasing their visibility in search results. By publishing regular blog content that demonstrates expertise, businesses can improve their search rankings and attract more organic traffic to their website. Maintaining an active blog that provides useful information can be a valuable asset for companies looking to prove their expertise and attract new customers.

For example, Augurian has worked with Birthways Family Birth Center where we were creating blogs to attract pregnant people to the site. We created a strategic blog brief targeting a pregnancy issue that had a high estimated search volume. After two months from the publication, Augurian’s process for content marketing brought in significant traffic. The blog became the highest-trafficked page on the entire website, attracting over 1,000 pageviews per week. This blog showcased the birthing center’s brand expertise around pregnancy topics, creating more trust from search engines and readers.

Providing Value to Customers

Consumers often seek out educational resources to help them make informed purchasing decisions, and a blog can serve as an excellent resource for your audience. To establish brand authority through your blog, focus on creating content that is relevant, useful, and engaging. This could include industry insights, how-to guides, case studies, and thought leadership pieces. By sharing valuable information and perspectives on industry trends and topics, you can demonstrate your expertise and establish your business as a go-to resource for your audience.

According to blogginghelpline.com, 47% of buyers viewed 3-5 pieces of blog content before engaging with a sales representative. Every blog post is an opportunity to attract new visitors to your site. When you consistently produce high-quality content that your audience finds valuable and relevant, they are more likely to share it with others, increasing your reach and bringing in even more traffic. Incorporating keywords and optimizing your blog content for search engines can help improve your website’s search engine rankings, making it easier for potential customers to find you online organically. You can establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry through blogs, building trust with your audience and ultimately driving more traffic and leads to your website.

Building Relationships with Customers

Blogs can establish a unique two-way communication channel with your customers. According to blogginghelpline.com, 93% of businesses that blog multiple times a day have acquired a customer from their blog. Through your blog, you can share insights about your business and industry and invite feedback and comments from your readers. This can help you build stronger relationships with your customers and gain valuable insights into their needs and preferences. To build relationships with your customers through your blog, try to encourage them to share their thoughts and ideas, and consider incorporating their suggestions into your blog posts. Be sure to keep your blog content relevant and interesting, and provide valuable insights and information that your customers will find useful.

Reaching Customers at Different Stages of the Customer Journey

Blog content is a versatile tool for businesses to use in reaching customers at different stages of the customer journey funnel. At the top of the funnel, blog content can help raise awareness by addressing common problems or questions related to your industry. For instance, if you sell skincare products, you could write blog posts about how to identify your skin type or the benefits of using natural ingredients in skincare. As customers move further down the funnel, blog content can help educate them on specific problems and potential solutions. For example, if you’re selling software, you could write blog posts about common issues users face and how your software solves those problems. You can also use blog content to create brand loyalty by featuring success stories or highlighting new product launches. When a business uses blog content to reach people across the customer journey funnel, it can increase brand awareness, drive sales, and create long-term customers.

Generating Conversions

Blogging is an effective way to generate leads and conversions for a business. According to blogginghelpline.com, businesses that prioritize blogging efforts are 13 times more likely to see a positive return on investment. By creating valuable and relevant content, businesses can attract potential customers and encourage them to take action. One way to use a blog as a lead generation tool is by including calls-to-action (CTAs) in the blog posts. CTAs can encourage readers to download an e-book, sign up for a newsletter, or buy a product or service. To drive conversions, businesses can also craft new blogs and refresh existing blogs with SEO to significantly increase ROI. For example, we refreshed a blog post for Unity College that showcased a career that one of the college’s degrees could lead to. After 2 months, there was a 169% increase in pageviews from that blog along with a 155% increase in conversions. Providing value to customers through blog content is an essential aspect of using a blog for business purposes.

Keeping Up with Industry Trends

Staying up-to-date with industry trends is crucial for businesses to remain competitive in today’s rapidly changing marketplace. A blog can serve as a valuable tool for businesses to share industry news, insights, and trends with their target audience. By providing valuable information through blog content, businesses can position themselves as thought leaders and keep their audience engaged and informed. To find industry-related news to share on your blog, consider following industry publications, attending conferences and events, and keeping an eye on social media conversations related to your industry. You can also interview industry experts and share their insights on your blog. By regularly sharing industry news and insights, you can establish your blog as a go-to source for industry information and build trust with your audience. This can lead to increased traffic to your website, more engagement with your brand, and, ultimately, more business opportunities.

Conclusion

Blogging is an essential element of any successful content marketing strategy. A business can use a blog to promote its products or services, showcase its expertise, engage with its audience, and drive traffic to its website. By providing valuable and informative content, a blog can help a business establish its brand authority and build trust with its customers. It also offers a unique opportunity to reach people at different stages of the customer journey funnel, from those who are just becoming aware of a problem to loyal customers who are looking for ongoing support. If you want to maximize the benefits of blogging and content marketing for your business, consider partnering with Augurian. Our content marketing services can help you create and distribute high-quality content that resonates with your target audience and drives results. Our team of experienced writers and SEO specialists can develop a customized blogging strategy that aligns with your business goals and helps you achieve your marketing objectives. Contact us today to learn more about our content marketing services and how we can help you take your blogging efforts to the next level.