Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Yes! You Do Need a Company Blog

The most accessible way to dip your toe in the waters of content marketing is to start a company blog. It’s a tactic that can work for any size of business and if you do it right then it will generate targeted traffic that would otherwise cost you a lot of advertising dollars to pull in. According to HubSpot research more than half of all Internet users read blogs at least once a month and more than one third of U.S. companies use blogs for marketing purposes.



The potential value of blogs is definitely being recognised. According to the Content Marketing Institute blogs are one of the most popular content marketing tactics and while 51% of marketers used blogs in 2010 that figure went up to 65% in 2011.

Easy To Set Up

One of the big attractions of starting a company blog is that it is relatively easy. Not only can you find plenty of free platforms, from WordPress to Blogger, they also have CMS (content management systems) on the back end that anyone can learn to use. This makes it easy to add users, and to create, schedule and publish content. It’s worth noting that a solution like WordPress is probably the most attractive because you can host the blog yourself and assimilate it into your existing website.

7 Reasons To Start a Company Blog

You company blog should be the foundation of your content marketing efforts. It can act as a central hub for all of your marketing activity. That’s just the beginning, because blogs are a great idea for a number of reasons. Let’s take a closer look at the big advantages.

  1. Increase in Traffic – According to the same HubSpot research mentioned above, companies that blog get 55% more website visitors.
  2. Targeted Traffic – Not only does the blog pull in more traffic, it also pulls in targeted traffic with an interest in what you are selling. HubSpot reports that 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog.
  3. Cheaper Than Advertising – To get that targeted traffic through traditional advertising channels would be far more expensive.
  4. You Own The Blog – The blog is owned by the company so there is no reliance on a third-party or time limit on its effectiveness.
  5. Blogs Establish Thought Leadership – What better way to show off your industry expertise than by writing useful and insightful blog posts?
  6. Blogs Feed Social Media – People love sharing great content and they are far more likely to share something from your business website if it is perceived as useful.
  7. You Can Post Any Kind of Content – There are no real limitations with blog posts. You can post photos, artwork, audio or video files along with text in various forms from casual blog posts to in-depth articles and beyond to white papers.

As you can see there are plenty of reasons to maintain a company blog and it is undoubtedly one of the most cost effective strategies you can pursue when it comes to promoting your business. If you do intend to start a company blog then you must realise that it is a commitment. We have discussed classic content marketing mistakes before and posting the wrong kind of content or not updating your company blog regularly are just two relevant examples.

Next week we’ll take a look at how to make a company blog work with some useful tips you can implement for blogging success. 

3 comments:

  1. Creating and maintaining a company blog sure is a cost-effective strategy in promoting a business. Which is exactly the reason content writing is crucial. Although there are no REAL limitations, as what you have mentioned, it should still be written with restrictions to avoid controversies, in relation to managing your online reputation.

    Darryl Tay

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  2. That's a good point Darryl. Some people might argue controversy is good, but probably not from a B2B standpoint.

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