Why Blogs Are Essential for SEO and Branding

More than ever before, consumers care about a company’s reputation. If you want to increase your business’s revenue and client numbers, you must take the time to build a powerful brand identity. Nearly 90% of consumers around the world look at brand reputation before making purchasing decisions.

How can you make an excellent first impression with potential customers? Online reviews and high-quality blog articles play a huge role, which is why blogging is important for both SEO and branding (both contribute to lead generation and sales). It’s no surprise that around 9 in 10 B2B and B2C businesses use content marketing to reach customers.

The amazing benefits of blogging are impossible to ignore, and it’s easy to see why blogging is important for building your brand. A branded blog connects you with your target audience better than traditional advertising, building trust first and selling products second.

Why Blogging Is Important for SEO

So, why blog? Blogging is a vital part of content marketing and search engine optimization. Attracting visitors to your website requires high-quality content that interests them. The SEO benefits of blogging for B2B and B2C companies range from improved search results to better brand recognition. Regular blogging:

• Entices visitors to spend more time on web pages
• Makes your brand more visible in organic searches
• Draws a higher volume of website traffic
• Provides more opportunities for conversion
• Boosts conversion rates and sales

To get the maximum results from your SEO strategy, it’s necessary to use a lot of keywords. To achieve that, content is essential. Blogs provide the perfect space to include the right keywords for your target audience and industry.

The Benefits of Having a Blog: Mind-Blowing Statistics

Blogging for SEO is effective. The numbers don’t lie:

• Blogging can increase ROI by a whopping 1,200%
• Having a blog can provide nearly 70% more leads every month
• About 80% of internet users check out blogs and visit social media sites
• Businesses with a blog get 55% more visitors on average
• Websites with blogs can have over 430% more indexed pages
• Most people (70%) prefer learning about businesses through blogs instead of ads

Put simply, blogging can enhance virtually every aspect of your website. It’s good for your search rankings, marketing campaigns and online sales.

The Major Benefits of Blogging for SEO and Branding

How might a business use a blog? One of the biggest benefits of having a blog on your website is the way it helps you grow your brand. Great content can speak volumes about your business. Branded blogs have the power to boost your company’s reputation, increase your brand recognition and convince potential customers that you’re the best choice.

1. Blogging Highlights Your Brand Identity

Your blog gives you a chance to show in-depth why your company is different. Every article reveals a little about what makes your brand tick. Whether you want your business to feel serious and professional or fun and laid-back, blogging shows those qualities.

Informative articles can describe your products or services. Visitors can see the benefits of choosing your business, learning more about your work quality, attention to detail and other factors.

Another way blogs highlight your brand identity is by stressing your core values. For example, if you prioritize environmentally friendly manufacturing or green products, your online content is the perfect place to let people know about it! Don’t be afraid to comment on topics of interest from your brand’s unique perspective.

2. High-Quality Content Establishes Your Industry Authority

Imagine that you’re looking for a contractor to remodel your kitchen. Who would you hire? Someone who gives you vague responses and struggles to answer your questions? Not likely. You would choose the expert who can explain the process clearly while showing you the pros and cons of different options.

One of the advantages of blogging for business is that these articles let your business show its knowledge and expertise online. Blogs represent your company in the best light even before you have a chance to meet clients personally. Informative content tells readers that your business is an industry authority they can trust for reliable answers.

In any situation, people are more likely to purchase products from industry professionals. Someone experienced inspires confidence, and a lack of skill has the opposite effect. That’s the reason why businesses highlight trust symbols such as “25 years of experience” or certifications. Blogging is important for SEO because it helps build your portfolio as an expert in the field. The more (easily findable) articles you have about a certain topic, the more industry expertise you seem to have.

3. Blog Articles Can Increase Customer Satisfaction

Well-written blogs can make your customers happy by helping them find the solutions they need. In turn, they’re more likely to remain loyal clients. New visitors may be impressed by detailed guides on your website and decide to learn more about your products. Every time this happens, your brand recognition grows.

To create a great experience for readers, you need to put yourself in the shoes of your target customers. What kind of assistance would you want when walking into a store for the first time? Often, people need help finding the right solution for a problem. They may not know which product to buy or what to do next.

Pillar pieces can explain the differences between several options and show the advantages of each one. Readers appreciate it when you guide them clearly and quickly to the products they need.

Question-Focused Content for Better Blogs

If you want to take advantage of using SEO in blogging, you should design content around frequently asked questions. Look at each article like an appointment with one of your customers. Think in terms of which answers your clients are likely to search for.

What questions would people have for a personal injury lawyer? The law firm’s blog could address these FAQs:

• How much does a personal injury lawyer charge?
• What is a release form and should I sign it?
• What are the steps in a personal injury case?
• What should I do if an insurance adjuster calls?
• Do I have a case if I was partially at fault for the accident?
• What happens if I have a pre-existing injury?

You can follow the same process to create valuable articles for your business. Question-oriented content is helpful for existing customers and useful for attracting new clients.

4. Pro Blogs Show Why Your Brand Is the Best

Blogs give you more space than other web pages to discuss the advantages of your brand. For example, instead of a short paragraph about high-quality materials, you can dedicate an entire blog article to explaining why your methods are superior. When you talk in terms of benefits and solutions, you gently nudge potential customers to take the next step.

Another benefit of blogging is its flexibility. Some companies market to several different audience segments, such as end consumers and commercial businesses. One of the benefits of regular blogging is being able to create content tailored to the needs of specific customer groups.

5. Expert Content Helps Potential Clients Trust You

Take a moment to think about the websites you choose when you have health-related questions. The first time you perform a search, you may visit several different sites because you’re not sure who to trust. After a few times, That changes. You’re likely to gravitate toward a few sites that have impressed you.

If you think about it, you can probably remember other websites you trust when you need information. Where do you go when you need advice about cars, computers or home appliances?

You choose those sites now because of blog articles that helped you in the past. Without even thinking about it, you’ve started to build a relationship with those brands. That’s exactly what you want to happen with potential clients for your business.

6. Blogging Increases Lead Generation

One of the main focuses of advertising is helping your business generate leads. High-value leads can make a huge difference for B2B companies such as manufacturers and wholesalers. Contractors, dentists, plumbers, retailers, lenders and countless other businesses need their websites to be magnets for online leads.

What is the importance of blogging for SEO leads? The link is easy to see when you break down the conversion process:

• Target customers search online for the topic
• Piece with the answer catches their attention
• People visit the website to read the whole blog article
• Visitors click on the call to action for more information
• CTA link takes readers to a landing page
• Potential clients fill out a form to obtain a free guide

Blogging plays an essential part in this process because it’s where people can find the answers to their questions. These are the pieces that are going to be showing up online in search queries.

The more indexed pages with keywords you have, the more chances you have to land a new customer. Even better, because the articles generating the interest are directed at your target audience, you end up with valuable leads that are more likely to convert.

7. Consistent Blogging Increases Traffic

The process of attracting visitors to your website is equal parts art and science. Several factors need to come together:

• Search engines such as Google prioritize active websites
• Your content needs the right keywords to rank high in relevant searches
• Users only click on links to articles that capture their interest
• A large volume of indexed pages increases the number of opportunities you have to capture clicks

Consistent blogging checks all of these boxes. It significantly increases the number of keywords on your site that are relevant to your target customers and delivers content designed specifically to interest them. Every time a new article appears, search engines see that your business is active and growing online. This can net you more traffic, backlinks, leads and conversions.

The best part is that the benefits of blogging keep on giving. High-value content keeps attracting visitors months and years later.

8. Branded Blogs Help You Build a Long-Term Relationship With Your Customers

Blogs are helpful for convincing customers that you care. For one thing, articles give you a chance to highlight the people behind your business name. Visitors see your company as a trusted friend instead of a cold name.

Informative content also shows customers that you’re interested in them. How-to articles and buying guides can be worth their weight in gold for your audience. They can make a real difference in someone’s life, solving problems that seemed overwhelming and providing tips that help your customers save time and money.

This type of relationship is good for your business, too. When consumers trust a business, they’re more likely to respond positively to advertising. Many people choose to purchase products and services from businesses they trust, even if it means paying a premium.

9. Improve Your Social Media Posts

Last but not least are the benefits of blogging for your social media marketing. In a way, when you invest money in blog content, you’re investing in your social media account at the same time. That’s because you can easily repurpose content from any of your blog articles to spice up posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other sites.

Blogging and social media are two sides of the same digital marketing coin. Both elements may attract different audience segments, but they have the same goal of increasing traffic to your website.

Do you have an amazing buying guide or infographic sitting on your blog? Let all of your social media followers know about it!

Tips for Building an Incredible Branded Blog

Now that you know what to do, the question remains of how to do it. What do you need to build an amazing blog for your brand? Focus on five pillars:

• Content strategy: Learn what type of questions, problems and needs your target audience has, and use your blog to provide the solutions.
• High-quality content: Attract visitors with well-researched articles that are authoritative yet simple to understand. Be the industry expert customers look to for assistance.
• Consistent posts: Stay fresh and boost leads with new content regularly. Businesses that post four articles a week get 3.5X more website traffic.
• Friendly brand voice: Choose a brand voice that helps your customers relax and increases their trust. This tone should appear in all your online content, including social media.
• Professional blog writing: Invest resources in expert blog writing services. To impress potential customers, you need impressive content.

Building an attention-grabbing blog for your brand is money well spent. The importance of blogging for SEO can have a huge effect on your website traffic, leads and especially on your customers.

We could go on and on about the benefits of blogging, but to see how professional content creation can transform your online advertising, check out our monthly blog writing services. This is a modern, hands-off approach to blogging, including keyword research, writing and editing of quality content. We’re experts at creating SEO-driven blogs for any industry and brand, so let us do the hard work for you.