By now you’ve heard of blogs and you think: Who cares? Yes, we know … blogging is difficult. It takes time, thought and dedication to turn out posts with any kind of frequency. Why should a local business bother?
Because it works!
B2B companies that blog get 67% more leads/month than those that don’t.
Companies that blog have 55% more website visitors.
Here’s Why …
Blogs Generate Leads
They create a bigger target. No matter what product or service you offer, people search for it in different ways.
How are you going to make sure the search engines think your website is relevant for all of those searches? Blogging is one way. The more you write on varied but related topics, the more likely you will turn up when someone in your area is searching for that information.
Blogs Are Niche Publications
Whether writing about nutrition or home decorating, people in the media recognize you as an ‘expert’ and suddenly you’re getting mentions in the press and comments from visitors who are potential customers. It opens up opportunities you wouldn’t otherwise have.
In this way your blog actually becomes another website.
Blogs Do Things Established Ad Campaigns Can’t
Now you have the ability to communicate one-on-one with customers in a casual way, and you can respond to timely events and maintain that community interaction on a weekly, or even daily basis.
Blogs Boost Your Bottom Line
You get a lot of word-of-mouth recommendations and some people will visit the site regularly for a while, then finally pick up the phone and say, ‘I’m ready to get some help. What can you do for me?’
Blogs Make You A Thought Leader
If you have some industry specific information to share, a blog will help you earn people’s trust.
Blogs Also Make You A Problem Solver
Name the biggest problem your customers have. With that problem in mind, write a detailed blog post that provides practical and non-product focused solutions. Solve your customers’ problems with content.
Get Business From Your Blog
Integrate your blog with the rest of your marketing to generate the most leads and customers. Link your blog to your website. Stream your posts to your Facebook page and Twitter account.
Realize that a blog post may be the first thing a potential customer sees about your company.
OR … There is always the 20th Century Alternative:
You could take a full page ad in The Palm Beach Post for $1000.
How about having an agency create a single-voice radio ad for $850? Run it weekly on Seaview Radio for say $3000.
You will need some four-color brochures, mailing list, fulfillment, business cards, et al.
What IS your ad budget, anyway?
– By Marcia Coffey
Find Marcia on Google+
Call Marcia, Genesis WordPress Design, Inbound Marketing, at 561.906.3436.
Follow @jmgroupdesign
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