As a member of The Hip Hop group The Rubber Peeple- I had been told that we needed our own website more than once. Ok. Cool. We will sell music on our site- I thought.
I designed it on wix.com. Because of my art background and the wix interface, it was pretty easy. Home page, about, contact, videos- All the basics. That was the fun part.
But all the experts said that a blog is a must. "Start a blog" - I thought- "what would I write about?" Granted - i'm a person with plenty of strong opinions. I'm also a pretty seasoned writer. Still the concept of starting and maintaining a blog seemed daunting and frankly- unnecessary to me. When I looked at the amount time most bloggers put in- i'm like whoa- seems like a lot of work.
Also -at that time- I viewed a blogs like online diaries. I mistakenly I thought you only discuss personal things from your own point of view. It seemed kind've arrogant and self centered to only write about me and my family life. Besides how many articles could I write about me before running out of stuff to say?
So I neglected the blogging aspect of our website all together. As a result - whenever I checked our stats on Google Analytics I found that we barely had any traffic except for the little bit we generated from posting on social media. Most of our traffic was "in-organic". Meaning it wasn't naturally occurring.
Many years and several websites later- I've come to realize that I didn't have a clue! Now I know that blogging is one of the corner-stones to running a successful online business.
If I own a business why should I blog?
1 .Drives Organic Traffic
Back in the day - the heralds would stand outside and announce the news aloud. If you were interested in what they were saying- you'd stop and listen. That's what a blog is. It's like an interesting flyer that invites you to the event - and - it is the event.
Remember this: Everybody knows something that someone else wishes they knew. Whenever you blog- especially about your area of expertise, you attract people who are seeking that exact information. Every time someone visits your blog - they are also visiting your site - which means more natural traffic for you. If you blog about your field of interest- you will naturally attract the kind of person who is interested - guaranteed.
So if you want people to find you- use your blog like a flag so they can find you.
2. Builds Up Trust In Your Brand
You may be selling microphone stands - But so is Amazon and Ebay. What makes people shop with these companies? Trust. Major corporations invest all sorts of money into building customer trust.
Most people aren't rich enough to spend tons of money on trust. But you do have the power of blogs at your disposal.
You can use your blog to establish a relationship with your audience. Niche related content lets them know more about you and your business. You don't have to blog directly about yourself if you don't want to. Or you can build trust by making the blog all about you. Regardless, people learn about you from what you write about. It makes them feel like they know you- even if you write about someone else.
3. Puts You In Front Of Your Audience
If you promote bamboo - you will attract pandas. If you play break beats - you will attract B-Boys. In other words, if you build it - they will come!
It's a simple concept called "the law of attraction". You don't want just any customer. You want the kind of customer that wants you. The secret to attracting them is to blog about what they wanna hear. Blogging automatically puts you directly in front of your target demographic.
4. Gives Your Opinions More Purpose
How many valuable hours have you spent posting your opinions on social media? If you are passionate enough to type and edit a social media rant, you can easily make that work in your favor by blogging about it instead. Then you can still drop the link around on social media.
People love critiques and editorials. They love to have something to agree or disagree with. Don't waste time- make your posts work for you by linking them to your website. Don't let Twitter, Instagram and Facebook reap all the benefits of your time spent typing.
5. Improves Your SEO Ranking
Unique material is what google uses to help determine your ranking whenever someone searches for something. Making sure your site is findable when people type in keywords is called "search engine optimization" or SEO.
A blog is a constant source of original content. If you blog often, you don't have to worry as much about your website ranking high on Google. Blogging automatically improves your SEO by making your "fingerprint" more unique in the eyes of the google robots.
McDonald's and Burger King both sell burgers. But if you Google Big Mac articles about McDonald's will come up. If you type Whopper, it'll be Burger King. Obviously, that's because of all the content that links those companies with those particular keywords. And you'd best believe that all major companies utilize newsletters and blogs heavily to keep audience engagement up.
6. Turns You Into An Authority
The root of the word of "authority" is "author". These also relate to word "authentic". If you write about what you know about - people will see you as an expert. This gives you a leg up because it's an added reason to keep people coming back.
Imagine you lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time - and then you start a blog about your experience. People will listen cause they respect your journey. Your blog is like a testimonial. It makes your story authentic - once it's in writing.
Now imagine that you linked that article to a product you sell- like an ebook on weight loss. People are more likely to buy it now cause you've shown them that you know your stuff.
7. Keeps You Relevant
Fresh content gives your audience a reason to return. If you never post anything new your audience will move on. Posting frequently let's visitors know that you are still alive and kicking. It motivates them to see consistency and dedication on your behalf. Writing about current topics keeps you at the forefront.
The internet is like a current of rapidly rushing water. You have to keep paddling vigorously in order to stay afloat and not crash. The world of digital journalism move relentlessly at break-neck speed. Most bloggers work feverishly everyday to provide new material that keeps their website relevant. Not that every blog they compose is a masterpiece however they make sure to publish something at least every few days.
It may seem that blogging is a lot of nonstop work, I would be lying if I said it wasn't. However the payoff is so worth it. Because blogging covers so many areas of concern for an online business owner. To neglect blogging is like cutting off your legs - making it impossible to really get anywhere.
Now that I am a regular blogger I find that I receive plenty of natural traffic. People search on their own for things that I write about and Google shows them my blog. I am building up a solid audience of people who are interested in what I have to say. They are learning to trust me because of the consistent information provided via my blog. It's not nearly as much work as I thought it would be and it's very fun to do.
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