With organic reach being limited more and more in favor of paid advertising, small businesses are feeling like they have to work twice as hard just to reach their target audience. Don’t worry though, that’s not always the case!
The easiest way to reach your ideal customer at low to no cost is simple - Blog Marketing. The benefits of blogging are vast, but when it specifically comes to driving traffic, here are 5 reasons why you should start today...
What is Blog Marketing?
First, let's focus on why blogging is important for your business.
Like we discussed earlier, platforms like Google and Facebook have been limiting the reach of organic traffic for quite some time. According to a study done by Ahrefs in 2020, “90.63% of pages get no organic search traffic from Google.”
So how exactly is your website supposed to be found by your target audience if they can’t even see you? That’s where Blog Marketing comes in.
Blog Marketing is the act of catching your audience's attention through blogging in hopes of directing that traffic to your website.
While there are many reasons blogging is the ideal type of content for businesses, the ultimate reason is simple - it can be accessed and searched for at any time. Even if your blog post is a few years old, as long as it’s still relevant, it can still bring traffic to your business.
Here are the easy ways that Blog Marketing can bring direct, quality leads to your website...
1. Build Credibility
Building credibility may seem like an obvious thing to add to this list, but it’s more important and more serious than you might think. If your audience doesn’t see you as a credible source, they’re never going to visit your website.
When writing your content, the number one rule of blog writing is to always remember that you’re writing your blog for your audience - not for you.
What do they want to see?
What information are they looking for?
What do they need help with?
Instead of focusing on putting out as many blogs as possible to gain readers and viewers, think about posting a steady flow of quality content that is designed to be shared.
You can do this by backing your content up with research and examples, having strong, professional branding, and by building up your backlinks.
2. Backlinks for Blogs
You might be asking yourself, “what are backlinks” and that’s ok! Backlinks can be one of the hardest parts of Web Traffic and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to understand.
Backlinks, otherwise known as inbound or incoming links, are simply links that go from one page to another. The easiest way to understand this is by thinking of Pinterest.
Pinterest is an entire platform dedicated to backlinks! Each “pin” takes you to someone's blog, website, or platform. The more times your content is repinned, the more backlinks you create.
But why are backlinks so important? Backlinko says it best...
Not only that, but Google themselves even confirmed that Backlinks are still one of their three most important search engine ranking factors.
It’s more than just dropping your link in random platforms though, there’s a real science behind backlinks. So let’s teach you a few simple ways on how to build them!
First and foremost, you want to create content that is high quality. Research your topic thoroughly, have a strategy, and remember...you’re writing for your AUDIENCE, not for yourself.
Team up with professionals in your industry, or even your competition, and use their voice in a guest post. Interview them for your blog and ask them to share it on their social platforms as well.
As stated previously in this article, use sites like Pinterest, LinkedIn, or Tumblr to share your content.
Comment on other relevant blog posts and drop your link! Remember to be authentic and professional though; don’t randomly drop your link on every blog you see.
Create original artwork or illustrations that are designed to be shared. Infographics are one of the best and easiest ways to build backlinks!
3. SEO for Blog Posts
When it comes to improving the quality of your content, regardless of the platform you choose, SEO is a reliable way to bring traffic to your website. While it is recommended to hire a professional to optimize your site to ensure online visibility (see our SEO Bundle Pricing here!), it is also very much possible to optimize your blog by yourself.
When users search for a keyword or topic, an algorithm works to determine which results are considered the "best" for that particular inquiry.
Blog SEO works by optimizing your content for the search engine that you want to rank for; this includes websites like Google, Bing, YouTube, or Amazon.
While there are many reasons blogging is the ideal type of content for businesses, the ultimate reason is simple - it can be accessed and searched for at any time. Even if your blog post is a few years old, as long as it’s still relevant, it can still bring traffic to your business.
The trick to ranking high on SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) is through posting quality content filled with specific keywords that your audience is actually searching for. As WiX SEO Experts, we've compiled a list of 5 ways to optimize your blog...
4. Google’s Featured Snippets
One of the best blogging benefits is Google’s Featured Snippets. When users ask a question into Google, the result that is read back to them at the top of the page is called a snippet.
These snippets usually come in the form of a list, paragraph, sentence, table, or video, and are a way to easily answer the inquirer's question quickly and clearly.
Featured Snippets matter because it puts your website at the top of SERPs and makes it much more clickable. Not only that, but blogs that are featured on Google Snippets often have a high CTR (click-through-rate) and higher Brand Authority, meaning Google considers you an expert in that particular subject.
It’s also perfectly optimized for Voice Search. According to Rocks Digital Marketing, 76% of smart speaker users perform local voice searches at least weekly, with 46% of users performing it daily as an easy way to get the information they need fast.
With Voice Search quickly becoming the next hot marketing trend, it’s almost necessary to optimize your blogs to be featured as a Google Snippet.
For example, let’s say you google ‘why do cat’s purr’ into your search bar. That first result that appears at the top of your page in bold is called a Google Featured Snippet.
As you can see from the example above, the answer that was pulled from Wired.com’s blog is from 2015 - that was over five years ago! Google still considers this source one of the most accurate and keyword-inclusive blogs for this particular search.
To be featured on Google's Featured Snippets, your blog needs to establish credibility and rank within the top 10 searches on Google. Producing quality content that Google will love, in a format that is easy to understand, is key. We recommend these four tips when optimizing for Featured Snippets...
Use platforms like Answer The Public to determine potential content ideas.
Answer the keyword question in 52 characters or less.
Add a “How To” or “FAQ” section to your blog.
Use high-quality images and videos.
5. Build an Email List
Email marketing might be one of the most important strategies to add to your marketing plan out of everything on this list since it continues to have a higher ROI than any other marketing channel.
It is still considered one of the best ways to interact and engage with your audience, especially since those who subscribe to your email list are already either supporters, customers, or interested in your product or service.
When you share your blog with your email list and they enjoy it, they are more likely to share it with other sources. Sharing your blog or website creates backlinks, which boosts your SEO, which creates more visibility and credibility for your website, which may get you featured on Google’s Featured Snippets!
As you can see - it’s all related.
Updating your email list when you write a new blog not only shares that content immediately with a targeted audience, but also ensures it’s reaching an audience who already considers you a credible and trustworthy source of information.
The Bottom Line Is...
The benefits of blogging are vast; it’s hands down one of the best and most effective ways to bring targeted traffic to your website. According to bloggingwizard.com, an estimated 3.4 billion people read blogs!
With those kinds of numbers, it’s almost a necessity to include blogging into your digital marketing strategy. The ability to grab your target audience’s attention through a type of content that can be shared on almost any social media platform is unmatched, and its backlink and SEO potential are staggering.
If you’ve included blogging into your business strategy, how has it worked out for you? And if not, what has been holding you back?
A consistent blog strategy is essential for Web Traffic, which is why we release new blog posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Make sure you subscribe to our blog to get all the information, news, and advice you need by signing up for our newsletter below.
Kellyann Doyle is a Content Marketing Writer at Zoek, an SEO, Web Design, and Digital Marketing Agency that assists small and medium-sized businesses with their online footprint. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in 2013 from the University of Houston with a Major in Communications and a Minor in Marketing, and has been working in the Digital Marketing world ever since. When not working, you can find Kellyann trying new recipes, enjoying a good nap, or watching Friends for the 500th time.