Now (finally, you’re probably thinking), on our fourth post in this series, we’re getting to what most people think of when they think of “web content”—blogging. This is not an exhaustive report. Blogging has been one of the most popular topics to write about over the last decade, and for good reason, because it’s one of the most successful ways of building a web-based business. Because so much has been written already, we’re going to focus on highlighting the three most significant benefits you can gain by including a blog (and regularly updating it!) on your business site.

1) A regularly updated blog increases traffic to your site.

It’s simple: the more often you update your blog, the more your website shows up in search engines like Google. Solid, consistent content over time will bring your site way up in your Google rankings.

Here’s a quote on this point from a very helpful article from Forbes: “In terms of search engine rankings, I like to think of blogging as fishing. The more hooks you have in the water, the more likely you are to catch a fish. In the same way, as you add more content to your site, more pages from your domain become indexed in search engines. This improves organic search visibility and increases website traffic.”

Blog posts make your website—and therefore your business—more visible, which brings in more viewers, which brings in more sales!

2) A blog builds credibility in your field.

A good business blog shouldn’t only be about your business: it’s also about your field. Are you a bank? Write articles about the benefits of mobile banking, tips to save more money, or what to look for in a good bank. Are you a yoga studio? Write articles about the benefits of certain yoga poses, how to build up to inversions, how to stretch a certain muscle group, or yoga trends across the nation. Articles about your field show people inside and outside of your field that you actually know what you’re talking about! If you build credibility, you build trust with your customers and your larger audience.

Writing posts about things in your field can also lead to an increase in your traffic. If you are contributing useful, fresh information and insights into your field, then people will be likely to repost or share your article. It might even lead to another blog or business asking you to write a guest post. All of these things work in the same way as #1 to improve your site’s visibility and improve your traffic, and thus your sales.

3) A blog shows the humans behind your website.

Other humans tend to like that. People—especially millennials, who happen to be the largest generation in American history and an enormous buying power—want to feel a connection to the businesses they buy from. They want to feel that their purchase is significant. The best way to show them that their purchase matters to you is to show them who you are. This can happen in a number of ways:

• Write a post (or series of posts) outlining your business’ (or even your family’s) core values and goals.
• Write about why you think your product or service is so important. You feel passionate about it, right? Tell the world why!
• Highlight your partners and employees, showing them who their purchase is really affecting.
• Describe the nitty-gritty aspects of your business, the behind-the-scenes reality that doesn’t make it to the highlight reel or the Instagram feed.
• Write about how your business is impacting or interacting with your local community.
• Ask for feedback from your community! We usually think of blogs as putting information out into the world, but they really do work as a two-way street. Ask for comments, post a survey or a poll, ask for people to send in stories or testimonials.

Developing a real, human connection is one of the most powerful ways you can use a blog to help your business grow and improve. It may not have a measurable statistic, but we believe it can be a true gamechanger for you.

Despite all of this, we know there’s at least one giant problem in your mind—”but guys,” you’ll say, “I’m not a good writer. I don’t have time to blog. I wouldn’t know where to start.” Don’t worry—we’re here to help. We have content specialists, many of them with blogs of their own, who would be happy to help you get a start, or even write your blogs for you!

We hope you’ll join us for our last post in this series on how creating social media content can help you expand your business.