Blogging is not dead. Used properly, blogging can be a useful tool for building brand awareness and creating your following of brand ambassadors. Blogging affords you the ability to flex your knowledge muscles and share information about important matters to your customers and prospects.
What is a blog?
I love the dictionary. Dictionaries are a valuable resource and so often are overlooked. According to Merriam-Webster, blog as a noun is defined as:
1: computers: a website that contains online personal reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks, videos, and photographs provided by the writer also: the contents of such a site
2: a regular feature appearing as part of an online publication that typically relates to a particular topic and consists of articles and personal commentary by one or more authors
Blogging is a tool used to create or enhance your online persona. It is your opportunity to connect with your audience and customers and identify with them at their level. Blogging significantly helps your SEO.
I don’t know what to do. Should I blog?
This morning, I met with a friend for coffee. She is with a nonprofit looking to renew and refresh the messaging and focus. The subject of blogging came up, and she shared her thoughts and concerns about blogging.
Blogging is intimidating for many businesses. The fear of failing at blogging is one of the most common reasons companies do not blog. What they fail to realize is the wealth of knowledge they possess and the ease in which they can share it. The posts do not have to be extensive or entangled. A checklist to help a traveler prepare for a trip or a post about back to school hacks for remote learning will drive traffic to your website.
A photographer asked me about blogging, and I suggested she share her experience of an outdoor wedding she recently filmed. Speak from the heart and your view behind the camera and share the wedding event. Hearing your voice and looking at the pictures you took will surely drive interest and traffic to the website. (…and it did!)
Please don’t misunderstand me. I, too, struggle with writing my blog posts. I wait until I pen everyone else’s, and then I pour a cappuccino and think, and write, and think. I blog because it works.
Eye-opening facts about blogging
In 2020, blogging statistics reveal that over 400 million people view 70 million blogs every month.
- Bloggers who write articles of 2,000+ words are far more likely to have strong results.
- 46% of bloggers edit their own work, while 54% have editors or have at least shown their work to someone else to review.
- 43% of people admit to skimming blog posts, and 36% of readers prefer list-based headlines.
- Companies who blog get 97% more links to their websites.
- Blogs have been rated as the 5th most trustworthy source for gathering online information.
- 77% of internet users read blogs.
- The “how-to” headline—a close cousin to the listicle—is the third most popular headline preference at around 17%.
- The average blog post takes 3.5 hours to write. (Don’t freak out. This does not mean your post will take that long.)
Special thanks to Optinmonster for these incredible stats.
Bring blogging to your marketing strategy
Blogging is not dead. Blogging is very much alive, and the changes in the way we meet and communicate due to COVID is infusing new life into blogging. Stretch your legs as a functional resource, a guide, an authority, and speak to topics that are of interest to your target audience.
- Write in your voice. Engage with the reader from the git-go because you want them to stay and read the entire post. Make it worth their while.
- Leave them with a thought that entices them to take action. If you blog about a product you sell, talk about how you use the product. Describe in detail the look, feel, taste, or smell. The customer will want to capture that feeling themselves and the spark to engage is available for them to do so.
- Answer a question. Your prospects and customers have a ton of them. Think about the questions you are repeatedly asked and answer them with a definition/response and a solution.
Blogging is not dead
People will always be in search of an answer to their questions- so answer them. If you need help or a second set of eyes on that first blog post, give us a reach out. We would love to see your blogging skills soar!
Free consultation appointments are available. We can help you find your voice in your writing and get closer to your customers.
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