Way back in 2013, I wrote a blog post called: Why do I need to blog for my company?
Boring blog title aside, the post identified how blogging as a marketing tactic is beneficial to businesses and a key component of content and inbound marketing.
Fast forward to 2019 and it’s easy (and very tempting) to think that blogging should go the way of Vine or Google+ and be consigned to marketing history.
It was already hard work to get found through blogging in 2013, when there were only 152 million blogs out there. By 2017, there were around 350 million on Tumblr alone.
Clearly the competition is hotting up.
But does it still make sense to invest time in creating new blog content? In many ways, the rules haven't really changed at all: blog posts still need to be tailored to the needs and interests of your buyer personas and quality is non-negotiable.
Likewise, having a blog just because your competitors have one, or including blogging in your marketing strategy because everyone seems to be talking about it are still not good reasons.
But, just as there were in 2013, there are still many real, justifiable reasons that you need to include blogging in your content marketing strategy.
#1 Get found in search and support your content pillar strategy
Each new blog post is a new page on your website. Each new page on your website is another opportunity for you to be indexed by search engines. The more pages you have on your website, the more opportunities you have to drive traffic through Google Companies that blog have 434% more indexed website pages than companies without a blog. Each new blog post is also a new page you can add to a topic cluster, to help demonstrate your expertise and knowledge on a specific topic area that you want to rank for in search.
#2 Help your off-page SEO
Getting good quality inbound links to your website can be difficult. By writing interesting and informative blog post, you dramatically improve the opportunities for people to link to you. In short, this makes it more likely to rank well in search. In fact, companies that blog have 97% more inbound links than companies that don’t blog.
#3 Establish your position in your industry
You might have lots of impressive ideas and creative approaches within your organisation.
But, if the content isn’t on your website, nobody is going to know about them. With a blog, you can tackle issues in your industry and clearly share your thoughts and opinions on pressing matters.
Consider your blog your own publication, where you have complete control over the editorial guidelines and calendar. A company blog gives you the freedom to write as often as you want, on the topics that you think are important.
You’re not constrained by forward features lists or external editorial guidelines. You can set the rules and give your blog the specific focus that you want it to have. This does require some discipline, to set editorial calendars and deadlines. But, your company blog also give you the ability to publish the content you know your prospects and customer want to read.
#4 Companies that blog get more leads
If you want your website to be a lead generation machine, then you need to blogging. Typically, B2B companies that have a blog on their website are able to generate 67% more leads than companies that are not blogging. That’s a lot of potential leads you’re missing out on if you’re not blogging for your company.
#5 Blog posts give you content to share in social media
Trying to run social media accounts without any content to share is hard. To put it bluntly, if you have nothing to talk about or share in social media then it’s going to be an uphill struggle to start conversations and engagements.
By regularly blogging, you’ll have a steady stream of fresh content that can be shared with your followers, while giving you something useful and interesting to talk about.
#6 Blogging helps you to promote your key content
When you invest time, creating whitepapers, presentations and eBooks, you want people to find them. By blogging on topics related to your key content, you can direct people towards your key content. Also, by placing relevant calls to action at the end of each post, you can help increase your blog’s lead generation power.
