Have you been thinking of starting a blog for your site and not taken the plunge yet? The longer you wait, the harder it will be to catch up to your competition.
Content marketing is the talk of digital marketing. In fact, 55% of marketers say that content marketing is their top priority for inbound marketing.
Here are just some of the quick industry stats and reports to back this up:
- In 2019, 84.5% of US companies with at least 100 employees will utilize digital content marketing strategies. (eMarketer)
- 55% of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority. (Hubspot)
- 55% of business professionals say a great story captures their focus and keeps them engaged with content. (Prezi)
- B-to-C content marketers have increased their use of audio/visual content, written content, and images vs. one year ago. (CMI and MarketingProfs)
- The top 3 types of content used by B-to-B marketers in the last 12 months are long-form content (in-depth articles, guides), video snippets, and social media stories. (CMI)
- By 2019, 20 percent of brands will abandon their mobile apps. (Gartner)
- By the end of 2019, Cisco estimates show 80% of all internet traffic worldwide will be video. (via IAB)
As wonderful and exciting as the idea of having an aggressive content creation and marketing strategy is… it usually isn’t that simple. There are plenty of obstacles in the way — such as the time and costs associated with creating original content. As all bloggers and content creators know… creating ‘great’ content well takes a lot of work, so you might be wondering if it’s worth the effort. This post will remove any of your doubts — especially if you are planning on growing your site or brand through the use of free organic traffic through Google.
Below are five benefits of blogging that will help your SEO.
1. Use More Keywords
You can only put so much content on your product and service pages. If you don’t have a blog, you can’t connect with people who are looking for other topics in your industry.
When you start a blog, you can begin to incorporate more keywords into your site. You can use the Google Keyword Tool to learn what topics people are looking for and create articles for them to read.
Would you rather them read about it on your site or your competitors?
2. Get More Backlinks
Google isn’t quite there when it comes to ranking sites in Google. It still needs a lot of help.
Backlinks are one of the things Google uses to determine if a site is an authority. If you are getting a link from a high-value site, then your website gets some of that authority.
If you create good content, you increase the chance of other websites linking to you. These signals can boost your site in the search engines.
3. Keep Your Site Relevant
Google likes fresh content. It shows that you’re still up to date in your industry.
When you post regular content, Google will keep coming back to your site to see what you have to say. This content is favored more in search engines, which can land you more traffic.
If you don’t have time to keep your blog fresh, then you can hire an SEO company to help.
4. Get Shared on Social Media
Have you heard about how much time people spend on social media every day?
Do you want a hint? It’s a lot.
People don’t only spend their time browsing social media. They also regularly share content they like. If you create good content, you can create social signals for your website when people share your posts.
5. Increase Time on Site
The number one goal of Google is to get people the information they search for. One way it measures this is by the time a visitor spends on your site.
When you provide a lot of content on your site, you’re giving people more of a reason to stay. When someone spends a lot of time on your site reading your content, it signals to Google that your website is high quality. This will give Google more reason to rank you higher.
Learn These Benefits of Blogging Well
Creating great content is one of the best investments you can make for your websites. If you want to be convinced further, just look at the top companies. Almost all of them use content marketing in some way.
Start making content today so you can get in front of your audience.
If you’re convinced that you need to start a blog, it’s time to get your first post up. Head back to our homepage to learn how to get started.