While blogging might sound old school (a la Britney Spears in 2007), it actually offers numerous benefits when it comes to growing your business. In other words, don’t count it out yet.

If you’re looking to increase your web traffic, grow your conversion rates, build relationships with your clients that foster lasting brand loyalty, and see quantifiable, data-supported growth in your business, look no further. Creating and maintaining a blog for your brand just might be the solution you’ve been searching for.

Whether you choose to produce your blog in-house or outsource the work, this guide will outline some of the top reasons you should be blogging in business – if you’re not already.

#1: Increase Your Website Traffic

When you first created your website, you probably got only a small trickle of visitors. Don’t worry, it happens to all new businesses. There are numerous different ways to drive web traffic, but some are much more attractive than others.

For instance, viewers can find your website by typing your company’s name directly into their search bar. But that will work only for people who already have you on their radar. So what about the potential customers who don’t know you exist?

One option is to generate traffic by paying for an email list, spamming its contents with promotional mail, and then hoping some people click through and land on your site. But that’s both expensive and illegal (yep, it’s literally against the law).

You could also try placing paid ads. It may not be illegal, but it’s definitely going to cost you – and it’s a continued expense to keep those ads running. The moment you stop paying, the ads stop bringing in visitors.

But there’s another option out there: blogging. Every time your company publishes a blog post, it expands the online presence of your brand and allows potential customers to find you organically via search engines. Studies have found that businesses that blog gain 55% more website visitors.

If you’re using SEO (search engine optimization) keywords in your blogs, you’re getting even more value by bumping yourself up in Google’s search results. Google’s algorithm determines the placement of results on its page based on how useful it thinks each result will be to readers. The algorithm is based on a number of different properties, but one of them is the density is relevant keywords.

For instance, let’s say that your company sells artisanal coffee beans. Think about questions that your clients might be asking: What’s the best type of coffee maker? Which country produces the best coffee beans? How do I make a good latte?

Then, write blog posts that are informative and answer their questions using short SEO keywords: coffee near me, coffee maker, espresso machine, coffee bean, coffee grinder. You can also use long-tail keywords to be even more specific: best coffee machines for espresso, or cheap coffee grinders on Amazon.

When potential customers use Google to find answers to their questions, your blog page will come up as a reliable source– and voila! You’ll bring more and more visitors to your site.

#2: Improve Your Conversion Rate

Conversion rates go along with website traffic. This is true regardless of the industry or sector you’re in and regardless of whether you’re selling goods or services.

With your improved number of visitors, you can begin turning traffic into leads. Adding a call-to-action, also known as a CTA, to every blog post is a big part of the lead generation process. Normally, these CTAs are free offers, forms, or prompts to reach out that require only the viewer’s contact information (as opposed to their payment information). Collecting that information, allows you to pass it along to your sales team to pursue the lead.

If you’re selling products (as in our coffee bean example), a conversion would mean that a site viewer becomes a purchaser of your product. Blogging is crucial when it comes to getting these potential customers to visit your site in the first place, and then the content of the blogs and their CTAs can play into convincing them to try your product or services.

#3: Build Client Relationships and Trust

By keeping your blog active and updating it frequently, you can build a rapport with your customers and maintain a platform that allows you to share frequently asked questions, company news, and other helpful information people may be searching for.

One of the best ways to entice potential customers is to write blogs that are not just promotional. When you fill your site with genuine, informative posts written in an authoritative tone, you can establish yourself as a thought leader in your space. Customers will then start turning to your blog to get their questions answered.

Filling your blog with well-written, convincing content allows your industry expertise to shine and shows clients that they can trust you to provide high-quality products or services.

“Who has time for that?” – is what you’re probably thinking. Writing and editing blog posts can be a time-consuming pursuit, but in this day and age, there are plenty of solutions. It’s become more and more common to outsource a blog by hiring a blog writer.

Outsourcing this work can save you both time and money, as you won’t have to pay for a full-time employee’s salary or benefits. Plus, professional blog writing can give you expert content, since your assigned writers will become subject matter experts in your industry.

Ensuring that your blog content is authoritative is essential for building trust with the customer. Attention to detail goes a long way in convincing a potential customer to convert into a paying one. Per the popular saying, you only get one first impression.

#4: Enhance Your Brand Identity

Creating top-notch blog content is a great way to deepen your brand identity and continue to build on what makes your business stand out. Catchy titles and clean, error-free copy can elevate your blog, helping you build personal connections with your customers.

Effective blog posts present an opportunity to answer your customers’ questions, make them laugh, and provide them with relatable content. You’ll also be able to establish your brand’s voice by writing in a consistent tone, whether that’s witty, formal, inspirational, or any other of the many choices out there.

When customers interact with your blog or your website often and start to recognize your brand, you get the chance to build your reputation and increase brand loyalty. You’ll want to make sure that you’re putting your best foot forward in your blog’s content.

Outsourcing blog writing can be a great way to ensure your blog is helping your brand rather than hurting it. A sloppy blog won’t give a great first impression of your business. Reputable content agencies and professional blog writers offer editing and proofreading services along with their writing services, ensuring your blog always looks its best.

#5: Make Long-Term Gains

Blog posts are the gifts that keep on giving. In other words, they’re assets that continue to provide value well after their initial posting date. When they’re indexed on search engines like Google or Yahoo, blog posts can continue attracting new customers and leads even years later.

After they’re initially posted, blogs are a much more passive income generator – each post only needs to be updated every so often. Plus, they can be repurposed for other areas, such as social media. And the best posts really do the work…

HubSpot estimates that about 1 in every 10 blog posts ends up being what they call a “compounding blog post,” meaning that it will continue generating leads long after its initial publication. And as we’ve discussed, those leads lead to sales and conversions.

As you’re working toward creating those superstar blog posts that will give you continuing returns, you’ll want to make sure to keep producing new content as well. You never know which post will be the one to hit that home run.

A combination of content types and topics will help you draw readers into your site through evergreen blog posts that compound over the years as well as continual blog updates that keep your site fresh. Then, transform those readers into repeat customers with strong loyalty ties to your brand.

Outsource Your Blog Writing to WriteHQ

Handing over the task of creating blog posts to experienced professionals is a great way to ensure that your blogs are high-quality, well-researched, and optimized for search engine results as well as for your customers.

WriteHQ offers fully-managed blog writing services for business owners and digital or content marketing managers who are looking to bolster their teams with premier freelance support. By working with a reputable blog writing agency like ours, you can trust that you’re in good hands.

Our team of trained and trusted writers, editors, and proofreaders will take care of blog writing for you so that you can devote your time and energy to other aspects of your business – like providing value for all of the new customers you land through the web traffic on your blog.

Contact us today to discover how we can give your company the lead-generating blog it deserves.