Should you maintain a blog?

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Blogging

Taken by francescopozzi (Flickr)

Blogging falls within  the “optional” category of a business’ online presence.  Maintaining a blog is often very time-consuming in planning and writing posts and content, but is it worth the effort?  Statistics on business blogging can make a convincing case.

78% of Internet users conduct product research online.

57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog

Companies that blog get 55% more web traffic
Businesses that have a blog get 97% more inbound links than those who do not

(Source: HubSpot)

 

Beyond the statistics, there are other benefits that can help make your blogging worth it:

  1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Websites that rank well in search engines are designed with keywords and data that search engines find relevant.  Blogs need to be informational and interesting, but should also be strategically planned.  For example, a company that focuses on wedding planning, posts about venues using keywords such as the name of the venue and region (ex. Texas Hill Country).  When someone searches “Hill Country Wedding Venue,” your page could show up and pull people into your website. Now instead of just looking at a venue, now they are looking at information about the wedding planner.
  2. Social Media Content – Creating social media channels which has engaged followers must have regular, interesting, and informative postings.  By creating your own blog writings, you are able to expand your pool of content to share with your followers, and gain more credibility.
  3. Guest Posts – Another great way to get your name out and network is to write content for other blogs.  Find a couple popular blogs in your industry and look for contact information.  For larger blogs, you’ll find information on guest posting. If they accept your content, then your message and brand are exposed to an even larger audience.
  4. [UPDATE 11/8/11] New Google Algorithms - Search engine optimization is just as important as a good design.  Google recently announced that they’re updating their algorithms to give new content higher priority.  ”This freshness change will impact 35% of searches.” Stale content could quickly lose position in searches on popular terms.  By writing a blog with proper SEO and keywords, you’ll be more likely to stay on top. (Read Google’s announcement)

What other reasons do you maintain a blog? Share your thoughts below in the comments!