In the world of small business, you need to be creative and intentional with how you generate traffic to your website. Sure, you can funnel money into Google Ads but why not save your cash and start building your organic traffic strategy?
How do you do this? By having a blog on your website! If you’re on the fence about whether or not your business needs a blog, the answer is a resounding yes! The benefits of a blog for your business directly support your organic traffic and content marketing strategy!
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WHY SHOULD I START A BLOG FOR MY BUSINESS?
It may seem like an extra to-do on your laundry list of tasks to keep your business going, but trust me, the benefits of blog writing are worth it!
The obvious advantage to having a blog on your website is being able to share insights and value with your audience, positioning you as the expert in your field. Your blog should be intentional and prioritize content that your unique audience will find valuable.
In this article, we are focusing on two key benefits of having a blog:
1- increasing website traffic through search engine optimization (SEO)
2- strengthening your content marketing by repurposing content
The first signals to Google and other search engines what your website is all about.
The second gives you an endless amount of content to keep your digital brand active and engaging.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) AND BLOGGING
I should preface by saying I’m no SEO expert. But there are some basic principals you can adopt for your own website and blog that will benefit your business in the eyes of Google.
Having a blog without prioritizing good SEO practices is fine, but if your goal is to increase web traffic, then the more strategic you can be with your blog, the faster you’ll see your organic traffic grow.
START WITH KEYWORD RESEARCH
Before you write a blog, you need to do keyword research. What keywords are people searching for as it relates to your blog topic and how can you incorporate them into your article?
My go-to platforms for keyword research are UberSuggest and KeySearch.
You’ll want to think long-tail keywords. In other words, focus on specific phrases. For example, if you’re writing a blog on photography basics, you may want to search for learn photography for beginners.
When doing keyword research for your blog topic, put yourself in the shoes of your audience: how are they searching for things? What would they type into Google to find information on your blog topic?
Here’s what I recommend doing:
Go to ubersuggest.com and search for your keyword. You’ll see a list of keyword suggestions and ideas. This is a great place to start jotting down keywords to include in your blog. The best keywords to rank for are those with a high search volume and a low or medium SEO difficulty.
Make a list and then head over to Keysearch to find additional keywords that may come up. Use these as inspiration for your blog article. You’ll want to settle on one long-tail keyword as the focus keyword of your entire blog.
Repurpose Your Content with Ease using the Content Marketing Planner
USING KEYWORDS IN YOUR BLOG
When Google “reads” your website or blog, there’s a hierarchy of what it focuses on to make sense of your content.
First it looks at H1 tags—H means heading. For your blog, this would be the blog title. There should only ever be one H1 on any page. You’ll want your focus keyword to be included in your title or H1 tag if possible.
Following H1 tags are H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6. In your blog, you only need to worry about H2 tags—headings throughout your blog, and H3 tags—subheadings.
The goal is to try your best to ensure keywords are used in as many of your headings as you can. This isn’t always going to be feasible and that’s okay too. You don’t want to do your blog a disservice either.
Best Practices for Using SEO Keywords in Blog
After your heading tags, Google is scanning for keywords within your paragraph text. Here are some best practices for SEO keyword usage in your blog’s paragraph text:
use your focus keyword within the first 100 words
use focus keyword 2 to 4 times throughout your blog
use focus keyword in the last paragraph or towards the end of the blog
DON’T keyword stuff or add keywords in that don’t make legible sense
try to use keywords in linked text, if possible
All of these things help strengthen your ranking on Google for your blog’s unique content. Here are other bonus tips for SEO and your blog.
any image filenames should have relevant keyword(s)
add alt text to all images with keyword specific descriptions (Google favours accessibility)
ensure your blog’s meta description uses keywords and isn’t too long
be sure to include a few external links in your article to reputable sources or domains
If you are able to work with keywords and use them to your advantage, you’ll watch your website start ranking for these keywords overtime just by having a blog on your website. It takes time and you will not see results overnight. My advice is to do your best to push evergreen content—content that will be relevant in five years the same way it is now.
Another tip worth mentioning: if you decide your business needs a blog, be sure to update blogs periodically. Google wants to know your blog is still live, so go in every so often, add new links to other relevant blogs you’ve written or update some of the content.
HAVING A BLOG IS THE BEST WAY TO REPURPOSE CONTENT
The second benefit behind blogging for your business is your ability to repurpose content. If you write a blog on one topic, that one blog can easily be repurposed into social posts, video content and email marketing campaigns. If there’s anything us small business owners need, it’s less time coming up with new content.
EIGHT EASY WAYS TO REPURPOSE YOUR CONTENT
This is the true beauty behind why your small business needs a blog. Watch this magic! Let’s say you wrote that blog on Learning Photography for Beginners. That blog can easily turn into:
1. Social Posts on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
Write a brief but insightful caption on one of the key topics and then redirect them to your website for the rest of the blog.
2. A carousel post or LinkedIn document
Use some golden nuggets worth highlighting from your blog and segment the content across a carousel post. Export your carousel post as a PDF too and share on LinkedIn as a document. These are like carousel posts for LinkedIn.
3. An infographic style post for your social channels
Take some fun facts from your blog and create a graphic post to share on your social channels.
4. Create Video Content
Instagram loves video content now so it's worth embracing. You can do this by going live, creating an Instagram Reel, or posting a brief video animation covering some of the key topics or insights from your blog post.
5. Create a Pinterest Pin for your Blog
This should be a standard practice, anyhow. Be sure to create a Pinterest Pin for your blog post. Include it in your blog for others to pin and post it on Pinterest. Don't forget to use relevant keywords even on your graphic. Pinterest is a search engine like Google and will scan your image for keyword-rich text too.
6. Create an Instagram Story for Engagement
Use engagement stickers like polls, questions, or otherwise to ask your audience their opinion on the topic. This approach may even help you choose your next blog topic.
7. Repurpose Your Pinterest Pin as an Instagram Story
The proportions of Instagram stories and reels are perfect for Pinterest and vice versa. Post your Pinterest graphic as an Instagram story to promote your blog. Just make sure the text is still easy to read when scaled down to your phone.
8. Send an Email Campaign
Send your subscribers a brief email that offers them some solutions to their problems as it relates to your blog topic. Have a clear call-to-action and ensure they redirect back to your blog for more info!
It’s like getting eight for the price of one. Obviously you would want to scatter these amongst your content calendar with other blog topics you have. Here’s the thing: the more blog articles you have, the more content (x8) you have to keep your audience engaged and happy—all while growing your organic traffic.
By now, you should know the answer to the question: should I start a blog for my business? The answer is clear. How do you get started? Make a list of topics your audience needs from you. What are they coming to you for? What struggles do they have that you can help them with?
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