In an era of A.I. and automation, not to mention promoted content, marketing appears to be changing. There is a greater reliance on paying for search engine placement instead of organic blogging content. I understand that, for a small business, budget dollars are more limited. My concern is that companies will overlook the importance of blogging when making budgetary decisions.
Instead, I want to emphasize three reasons why you should maintain an active blog on your website. But first, I want to address the elephant in the room: my bias.
I’m a writer
Point blank, I prefer the written word over most other forms of content. This is not me declaring any one marketing channel greater than or less than the other. It’s my personal preference and it can appear to translate into a bias.
This isn’t the case. What concerns me, beyond the direct impact it has on my business, is an over-reliance on automated content generation algorithms. In other words, A.I. systems make generating blogging content cheaper and easier than ever before.
This also means that the internet, on the whole, is beginning to become littered with low-quality content articles. Blogging might seem less important in this scenario, but this brings me to point number one.
Brand authority
Blogging is your opportunity to answer questions that your customers are asking. This builds trust with your brand, which is the first part of the Buyer’s Journey. Let’s talk about trust for a moment.
I was once a huge proponent of the integration of technology into the workplace. As an indirect extension of that mindset, much of our home adopted a tech-forward feel.
Over the past few years, I’ve noticed that our preferred technology companies seem to be focused on increasing shareholder value instead of providing customer service. I firmly believe that the latter will naturally lead to the former. However, when all shareholders see is the next quarter’s earnings and not the long-term picture, it becomes a race to the bottom for companies and their business goals. Profits are prioritized over the customer experience.
To say it another way, those brands have broken the trust and loyalty they earned from me. I’m not sure what I’ll do when my devices need to be replaced in the future.
Those few paragraphs were a long way of explaining the importance of trust. Blogging allows you to build that with your customers. I don’t necessarily expect a sale from this blog post (though I would gladly welcome one). Instead, my decision to create this article is to demonstrate — collectively, through other posts and channels — that you need to provide helpful information that may not lead to an immediate ROI.
Instead, you’re playing the long game.
It keeps your site active
This website has been relatively inactive for quite some time. I admit that, and there are valid reasons why updating the content here has been a low priority.
Unfortunately, static websites will be ranked lower than active ones. If you’re a plumber, for example, and you’re competing against other service providers in your area, you’ll need every advantage you can get. One way is to provide helpful tips like I just described. But as an extension of this, the more you blog, the more active your site will be and the higher search engines will rank you. It’s not a one-to-one effect, but every little bit helps.
Blogs and Calls to Action
In the marketing industry, there are many ways to increase your bottom-line revenue. One of these is by incorporating a Call to Action in every blog post. Now, as of the date of this publication, I’m going to implore you to not use my example in the section below as the “best practice” for Calls to Action. Again, there are many behind-the-scenes reasons why my site is the way it is.
However, the Buyer’s Journey is a powerful tool when used properly. Through a strategic implementation of its principles, you can create sales funnels through Calls to Action throughout your website — including every new blog post you publish.
Understanding the importance of blogging (and my Call to Action)
There are other reasons to maintain an active blog, regardless of your industry. Collectively, they’re a part of a strategic marketing plan that builds your online brand.
Would you like to learn more about this process? Then schedule a one-hour strategy session with me. For a fee of just $50, we’ll analyze your campaigns, marketing activities, and other specifics. I’ll also help you include the importance of blogging in your monthly marketing strategy.
Contact me via email HERE to get started!