Blogging is a valuable content marketing strategy that uses high-quality content to promote a business, boost brand credibility, and engage customers. It also plays a crucial role in SEO, helping businesses rank higher in search engine result pages (SERPs) and attract organic traffic.

Companies can enhance online visibility by publishing relevant, optimised content, to improve their online presence, generate leads, and build lasting customer relationships. Below, we explore the key benefits of blogging for growth.

Quality content establishes thought leadership

Thought leadership illustrates expert insights of people within an organisation. Customers turn to organisations that demonstrate thought leadership to understand what a company stands for and its position in the industry. Here is how blogging can help to establish thought leadership:

  • Demonstrating expertise: Writing insightful blog posts about industry trends and challenges, offering solutions, giving examples of industry benchmarks and appropriate KPIs, and explaining complex concepts illustrates expert knowledge. Overall, this strengthens credibility and influence.
  • Boosting SEO and visibility: Optimised content improves search rankings and drives organic traffic to your website. This increased visibility helps to build your reputation as an authority in your field.
  • Building trust: Quality content that offers value to readers without a sales pitch generates trust. Research has shown that readers are 131% more likely to buy from brands that educate and inform.
  • Encouraging engagement: Blogging creates interaction opportunities through comments and social media shares. Interactions with stakeholders within your industry can expand your reach and boost your authority.

Optimised blogs increase organic traffic

Each blog post becomes a new, indexed page, expanding your online presence and the chances of potential customers finding your business online. A HubSpot study found that companies that post blogs on their websites have 55% more visitors than those that don’t.

Having more website visitors increases the chance of your business benefitting from a booking, purchase, new leads, or other opportunities. If readers find your content valuable, they may share a link on social media, encouraging more people to visit your website.

Blogs enable business owners to turn website traffic into leads

Blog posts that feature a call-to-action are great lead generators. When website visitors click this CTA button, they land on a page with a form they must complete to get the free offer. When the visitor completes the form and provides their information, you have a lead that marketers can follow up on.

Blog posts can target each stage of the marketing funnel

Blogs are a neat marketing tool because they can be purpose-developed for each marketing stage and ultimately generate sales through marketing funnels:

  • Top of the funnel (ToFu): At the top, you have people at the discovering stage – they don’t know your business and what it offers, so make it easy to find out more. Infographics, how-to posts, and listicles are business blog examples that can create general awareness about your business and the problems you solve.
  • Middle of the funnel (MoFu): These people know about your business and products and need more information to decide on the right solution. More in-depth content that will generate interest in your offerings is ideal for them. These could be case studies, e-books, and whitepapers.
  • Bottom of the funnel (BoFu): People at this stage are ready to act. Here you can show them content that will push them to take the final step, such as detailed product reviews, product demo videos, and customer testimonials.

Business blogs as a company information dissemination platform

A website’s “About Us” section doesn’t typically go beyond a vision and mission statement and an introduction of the executive team. Business blogs offer a broader scope for sharing important information and company news. Additionally, blogs can share newly filed patents, industry trade show participation, high-profile appointments, success stories, case studies, and exciting new products and services.

Optimised business blogs that regularly share valuable information can become the go-to source for industry information, underscoring your status as an industry leader. This advantage is also true for small to medium-sized businesses that may not be industry leaders but are acknowledged leaders in their sector.

Business blogs open up networking opportunities

Each article can share newly filed patents, industry trade show participation, and high-profile appointments. It can also highlight success stories, case studies, and exciting new products and services.

All this content can lead to conversations, collaborations, and invitations to industry events or collaborative content opportunities. Additionally, blogs that stimulate comments and social media discussions foster relationships that can evolve into strategic partnerships or business opportunities.

One business blog can become a business resource

Depending on the type of blog you envisage, you could use the content in different formats, such as rewriting it as a script for a video or an audio post, including it as part of a whitepaper.

Some businesses convert blog text into scripts and set the audio to animation to turn it into a YouTube video. Others plan blog content to become part of a free whitepaper or e-book to website visitors.

Blogging keeps bearing fruit

The frustration with well-written, optimised blogs for business is also their potential. It takes a long time for blogs to generate interest and even longer to generate income, but once a blog ranks, it keeps generating traffic and leads.

Experience shows businesses rarely see immediate results from a blog post, but once it has generated traffic, it will keep generating traffic. For instance, HubSpot reports that more than half of its monthly blog traffic comes from posts published in previous months. Additionally, 90% of the monthly leads come from blog posts published in previous months or years.

Effective blog post formats

Companies can present articles in different formats and each has unique benefits.

Listicles

Listicles present information in a list and his format organises information in neat, short chunks that are easy to digest. It’s a favored format for top 10 lists.

Writers often use listicles to present information that might otherwise be overwhelming, such as the functions of the liver in the body. Listicles are suitable for different purposes: to inform, educate, explain a complex process, entertain, or persuade. It’s a format that is more attractive to readers than other formats.

How-to blog posts

How-to content is great for SEO because Google loves valuable information. These posts also improve SEO by targeting specific questions and keywords that people search for online. Well-written how-to blog posts also establish the writer as an authority in their field and build trust with their audience. The format can also boost engagement by encouraging shares and comments.

Checklists and cheat sheets

Checklists and cheat sheets are popular blog post formats. These formats help extract and highlight important points or takeaways about the blog’s topic. It is handy when a post summarises a broad topic for better understanding.

Checklists provide a structured list of steps or essential items to help readers complete tasks effectively. For example: “The Ultimate Checklist for Packing for a Trip to South Africa.” Cheat sheets summarise key information into a quick reference guide, making complex topics easy to grasp.

Both formats offer high value to readers. Readers also save and repost them on sites like LinkedIn, increasing a blog’s reach.

In-depth guides

In-depth guides are a compelling blog post format. This content discusses a topic in-depth and answers basic and penetrating questions. Ultimate guides serve as a comprehensive resource on a topic and educate, solve problems, and establish authority.

These guides are long-form content ideal for broad or complex topics, such as, “The ultimate guide to website authority”. If it provides valuable information and insights, this format can greatly affect a website’s traffic and engagement. It is also a format that can help build brand authority.

Comparisons

Readers find comparison pieces useful because they compare two or more products or services, helping them make a purchasing decision. In this type, the writer highlights the similarities and differences and points out the advantages and drawbacks of each.

Comparison blogs help readers make informed decisions. An example of a comparison blog compares the pros and cons of two eCommerce platforms.

Key elements of a business blog

A great business blog delivers information and answers to questions in a straightforward manner. Let’s break down the composition of a successful business blog.

1. A well-defined audience

The foundation of a good business blog is that it’s written with a specific audience in mind. Generalised content appeals to no one, making it unlikely to convert anyone.

A clearly defined audience allows you to target your content at a specific group, which you can’t do if you don’t know who they are. Before planning content, find your target audience through market research. Your target audience will emerge from information around:

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Income bracket
  • Education level
  • Interests
  • Career

2. Well-chosen topics

The best topics for business blogs match your brand expertise with the needs and interests of your audience. If you write a financial blog for high-value investors, they might be interested in buying a private jet. However, a blog about jets won’t appeal to all readers, especially if you are not an expert.

3. A compelling headline

Blogs that attract attention have a compelling headline followed by a catchy intro. Good headlines use strong action words, numbers, or questions to spark curiosity and convey value. The formula for a good intro is to state the problem, indicate that you have the solution, indicate why you are the expert, and point out the benefit to the reader.

4. An optimised structure

The best blog post examples are optimised to perform well on search engines. Business blogs use keywords strategically in the headline, intro, and conclusion, and disperse them throughout the blog. Great blog posts use advanced headings structures (H2s, H3s, and H4s), many of which are questions answered immediately in the text.

6. A clear call to action

A great blog post includes a compelling call to action (CTA) that guides readers on their next steps. Whether encouraging them to subscribe to a newsletter, download a resource, request a consultation, or purchase, the CTA should be clear, action-oriented, and aligned with the post’s objectives. By seamlessly integrating a well-placed CTA, businesses can drive engagement, generate leads, and convert readers into loyal customers.

Blogging compounds over time

To understand the compounding effect of blog posts, think about compound interest. Compound interest is earned over time, not overnight. Compound interest allows money to grow exponentially over time as interest earns on itself.

High-quality evergreen blog posts do the same — they keep earning traffic because they remain relevant. With compounding blog posts, visits don’t dwindle over time, they increase.

When a business publishes an article, it may initially attract low traffic. However, if optimised, it provides value and continues to generate a steady stream of organic traffic without requiring constant updates or promotion.

Characteristics of compounding blog posts

Compounding blog posts:

  • Cover a broad topic that is of interest to a large proportion of people.
  • Answers questions that are commonly asked and answers them authoritatively.
  • Are titled strategically, using words that people use to phrase their questions, such as “How”, “What”, “Why”, and “Best”.
  • Are easy to read with features like bolded headlines, bullet points, and images to break up the text.
  • Use the optimal headline word count of six to 13 words.

While compounding blog posts may continue to generate traffic and leads for months and even years, short-lived content will always be relevant. Examples are company news, product launches, mergers & acquisitions, and current industry trends.

A balance of content types is the best strategy for business blogs. Get in touch if you’re interested in how business blogs or content strategy can help your business.