There are a lot of ways to market a business, but most of them require massive budgets. However, blogging is something you can do for cheap, and if you know what your audience wants to read about, the rewards can be incredibly positive for a small business.
By blogging, you can increase the chances of people finding your business through search engines. If you’re consistent about it, blogging can become one of your business’ primary sources of new clients and sales.
In this article, we’ll go over five reasons why blogging is a killer idea for small businesses. We’ll also talk about how you can get started, all without spending too much money. Let’s get to it!
1. Content Marketing Helps Boost Your Business
There are a lot of ways to market your business. Content creation if one of them. ‘Creating content’ is a fancy way of saying writing blog posts, tutorials, publishing videos, and all that good stuff.
That content works as a marketing tool because it helps users find you online via search engines. If all you have is a bare-bones website with zero meat to it, no one is going to find it unless you directly give them the URL.
Ideally, you’ll market your small business through multiple channels. Those include social media, word of mouth, local ads, and more. Your website and its content are simply additional platforms you can use.
The more content you publish, the more visitors your site should attract, which should translate into more customers.
2. SEO Helps Bring In Local Customers
If you need to purchase a product or a service you can’t get online, your first move will probably be to look for an option that’s near your home:
Those types of searches are what we call local queries. Having a blog can help you rank for local queries more easily if you use keywords correctly.
Your goal isn’t only to appear in those local searches, though – it’s to make sure that you look like the best option. The way to do that is by having a blog and website that look more professional than your competitor’s.
That usually isn’t a problem, as most small businesses barely have an online presence. Many that do don’t even bother updating or publishing content, so the field should be clear for you.
3. Most of Your Competitors Aren’t Blogging
If you look up small businesses in your area, I’m willing to bet that in at least eight out of ten cases, their online presence is terrible. They might have social media accounts and websites, but you can tell not a lot of effort went into them. That’s problematic for two reasons:
- It gives potential customers the idea you’re no longer in business.
- It may turn them off from hiring or buying from you altogether,
By keeping an up-to-date blog on topics that interest your potential clientele, you tell them that you’re on top of things. The more posts you publish, the larger that impression should be.
In many cases, I’ve decided to buy something online merely because one website or blog was more professional, and I’m sure you have too!
4. You Can Position Your Business as a Problem Solver
A lot of times, I’m not sure precisely what service or product I need. Like most people, I rely on the internet’s infinite wisdom to tell me. Blogs play a big part in that decision-making process.
If you have a tech problem, for example, your first move is probably to look up a tutorial on YouTube or a blog post that tells you how to solve it:
Blogging about topics that help your audience, makes you a problem solver in their minds. You’re the small business they can rely on when it comes to finding a solution, which translates to authority.
If there’s a choice between your business and another local competitor, most users will want to go with the option they trust the most. To build that trust, you need to seem knowledgeable and provide good customer service (competitive prices help as well).
A blog can help you with the former. The latter is up to you!
5. Blogging Requires a Minimal Budget
Setting a up a blog is about as cheap a marketing investment as you can make. In a nutshell, here’s what you can expect to spend to get your business’ blog up and running:
- Around $10 for registering a .com domain for one year.
- Less than $5 per month for competitive shared hosting.
That’s it. You can create a stunning blog for less than $20 upfront. If you want to save even more money, a lot of web hosts will give you insane deals to sign up for multi-year contracts out of the gate.
From that point on, it all comes down to elbow work. We have a full tutorial that can help you start a blog from scratch, which I recommend you take a look at:
After your blog is ready, you can get to work writing. With a blog, the key is to be constant and make sure you’re always publishing new content. It can take months until you see your website start to get a decent stream of visitors, but the more you write, the better the chances are that your blog will benefit your business.
Conclusion
Content marketing is a powerful tool for both local and online businesses. If you’re starting out, you probably don’t have a lot of money to spend on traditional advertising. Blogging is more of a long-term strategy, but it’s one that can pay off in spades if you put in the work.
Let’s recap the five reasons why blogging can help your small business grow:
- Content marketing helps boost your business.
- SEO brings in local customers.
- Most of your competitors aren’t blogging.
- You can position your business as a problem solver.
- Blogging requires a minimal budget.
Do you have any questions about how to set up a blog for your small business? Let’s talk about them in the comments section below!
Image credit: Pixabay.