Blogging takes on many forms and has grown to be more than just a way of expressing thoughts. Blogging is still a relatively new form of media but has reached new heights over its roughly twenty years of existence. Initially, the concept of blogs was similar to an online diary, but now people have taken it from posting personal ideas to boosting company exposure.
Learning Outcomes
- The History of Blogging
- Blogs Going Mainstream
- Why We Blog
- Benefits of Blogging
- Trend & Challenges
- Blogging & Inbound Marketing
Early Days of Blogging
In the early stages of the internet, people were exploring its variety of uses as well as its extent of convenience. When blogs started in the early ninety’s there was no option of sharing a post on other forms of social media, simply because they didn’t exist. This made the tone of blogs much more personal because the only people that would read the blog had to know where to find it first.
Blogs Going Mainstream
Blogging slowly transformed from strictly personal use to a way businesses could grow on a new channel. As the internet evolved, so did blogging. The volume of blogs alone called for some attention in the media world. Blogs began advancing and gaining credibility, with relatable content that businesses’ found important.
The next step was creating platforms that these blogs could run smoothly on. That is when websites such as Open Diary, WordPress, and Tumblr were created to organize content and update blogs.
Don’t Fall Behind
Blogging was showing no sign of slowing down, meaning that industries, such as newspaper publishers, were forced to adapt to the trend and add blogs into their online content. People wanted to see fresh, relatable writing that felt more personal than the average article. By 2007, 95 per cent of US newspapers had integrated blogging into their online news delivery. (Source: CreativeBloq)
Importance of Style
The expansion of blogging has resulted in the numerous topics and styles people now use. In the blogging world there are no limitations when it comes to content, just desired outcomes (views, followers, or business leads). Therefore, if you want your blog to be relevant, the style and topic choice matter.
The way I see it, the variety of topics that you can blog about are endless, but writing styles tend to be less varied. For example: you can write formal, informal, how-to, critique, opinionated, informative, top 10's, and so on. These kinds of writing styles completely depend on the author and the audience being reached.
Short or Long Form Blogging?
The other aspect of blogging is the layout of the blog. In recent years it was thought that shorter blogs are better, but that may not always be true. If a customer is interested in the content of the blog they will read the whole thing, regardless of its length. Short form blogs and micro blogs are effective in a different way by engaging a wider audience, but with possibly less interest.
Why We Blog
Simply put, blogging can be divided into writing for personal reasons, or to enhance your business. Although blogging originated through private personal usage, it has transformed over the years into something that can benefit people in any field.
Personal Purpose
Like I said, blogging was meant to be personal and private, and many people keep it that way. It's still seen as a great way to express thoughts and opinions as well as share interesting information. You have the freedom to be creative and become a better writer while learning what type of writing suits you and your readers.
Boosting Business
Businesses have seen that blogs can do a lot more than just fill up a company website. The main purpose of business blogging is to communicate with your current and potential customers. Blogging is a simple yet effective digital sales aid that many overlook. A blog creates another channel that your customers can engage with, grabbing more views and driving people back to the website. Lastly, the more relevant media presented on the website, the more chances to be found on a search engine.
Many blogs take on an informal writing style and the purpose of that is to ease a customer into the sales process with a personable read. Blogs have been rated as the 5th most trusted source for accurate online information (Source: HubSpot). This proves that people will not only read blogs for information, but that they often choose to trust the information they read.
Benefits of Blogging
Maximize SEO
Search engine optimization is a key component to the success of your blog and company website. Google and other search engines use a method called ‘indexing’ which, as you may have guessed, creates an index based on search criteria and keywords. Google reads each page to assess the quality, putting the best content first when the keyword is searched.
Indexing for the Win
434% increase in “indexed” search pages for businesses with a blog; said another way, businesses with a blog are found on 4X the number of search pages (Source: HubSpot). A increase that large shows the importance of having a blog that maximizes digital sales through the use of keywords and relevant content.
Marketers that struggle grabbing buyer attention should be aware that 97% more inbound links are found on websites that have a blog. This means the search engines are much more likely to credit a business with a blog as being an “authority” in their industry and raise their search rank (Source: HubSpot).
Reel in Customers
Getting traffic through your blog is challenging enough but turning this traffic into leads is what really counts. The simplest and most effective way is by adding a ‘call to action’ at the bottom of the page that asks for their information in exchange for a piece of company collateral. Sending whitepapers, webinars or other content via email allows your company to stay in the back of the customers mind.
Take the Lead
B2B marketers that use blogs receive 67% more leads than those that do not (Source: HubSpot). Putting yourself out there and allowing for expansion of multi-channel engagement is half the battle. After the blog is posted, I have learned from experience that every ‘share’ and ‘like’ drastically helps the spread of your blog.
Long Reach
Social media has an incredible power to send your blog or any other content to places you never thought possible. Basic odds prove that the more views you have, the more chances you have to generate a lead, so every share, retweet, or like can go a long way. Some companies overlook social media because it seems frivolous, but in reality we cannot deny its effectiveness in the sales process.
Historical Optimization
The concept of revamping old content is relatively new; as people used to think that once a blog is out of the spotlight, it is out for good. Within the past few months, more research has been done experimenting with the success of old posts being revised. 76% of monthly blog views come from "old" posts (in other words, posts published prior to that month) (Source: HubSpot).
The success of old posts doesn’t immediately make perfect sense, but realistically, blogs should always remain timeless. The proof of its effectiveness is hard to ignore, when 92% of the monthly blog leads also came from "old" posts (Source: HubSpot). Reinventing the most popular and successful blogs with a current day spin has the potential to continue to produce leads.
Keyword-based Conversion Rate Optimization
One of the most vital parts of getting views and generating leads is through search engine optimization. Keywords play a major role in boosting your company’s blog and website on the search engine index. It would be most beneficial if we more accurately understand and satisfy the needs of our blog visitors by matching the offer we promoted in the past with the keywords people were using to find it (Source: HubSpot).
Revising your best blogs and adding keywords will give the people what they want and bring a whole new kind of success. By using this keyword-based conversion optimization methodology, the conversion rate of posts increased by as much as 240% (Source: HubSpot).
Pick a Channel, any Channel
Blogging is a simple way to add more channels into your sales and marketing strategies. Any form of outreach through inbound marketing can make a difference. 55% of businesses with blogs see more visitors to their websites (Source: HubSpot). All blogging costs is your time, so make the effort and share your blogs to create the most impactful presence on social media.
Trends & Challenges
Difficult to Stand out
Like any method of marketing online, there are challenges that you will be faced with. Due to the rate that blogs sailed into popularity, the difficulty to stand out has grown. There are countless blogs available, so why would anyone pick your blog? That is where the right content towards the right audience is important.
The problem with writing relevant content is that everyone else in the blogging world wants to write about it too. With thousands of blogs being posted daily, it is a challenge to stand out and maintain originality. Doing in-depth research with multiple sources helps for finding ideas that people want to read about, as well as for creating credible blogs. Although research is an important component of a good blog, it does require a lot of time and effort which can be a downfall.
Write for your Audience
Once you have become an expert on your blogging topic, a new challenge arises. The challenge is writing at an entry level and breaking down every aspect in order for anyone to read and comprehend. You may know the information through and through, but the viewers may not.
What’s Happening Now
In the roughly twenty years that blogs have been around they have not only grown in popularity, but also in trustworthyness, and are among the most trusted social media sources (Source: eMarketer). Blogging is now valued by all levels of individuals and businesses. When asked what social media platform they wanted to master most, 62% of marketers said blogging (Source: Social Media Examiner). Blogging is a powerful tool and businesses everywhere are realizing its potential to help digital sales.
Over the past 5 years, there has been a 700% growth in individuals who are posting to blogs (Source: Business ideas). A statistic as eye catching as that goes to show that people everywhere have accepted the importance of blogging. People are getting tired of the spin that media has on the news, so they have become more interested in individuals providing accurate information or perspectives via blogging.
Blogging & Inbound Marketing
Blogging Brings Potential
Marketers are responsible for all the inbound strategies that will bring in visitors and leads. Marketers focus on a front line strategy that includes search engine optimization, social media, and blogs. Getting a customer to read the blog allows them to understand your brand and what you do on both a more personal and professional level.
The job of the Marketer is to create enough quality content so that the consumer will explore other blogs and share the links on social media. As you know, Marketers do not pitch directly to customers on first contact, so the content they create has to do all the work for them.
Bonuses of Blogs
A blog can be your content marketing hub, allowing you to have full control while drawing customers in. Blogs have the power to fuel social media, search optimization, and the sales process. Blogs are owned completely by you, meaning you can operate by your own rules, without limitations. Social media holds lots of reach, and blogs can be the driving force to kick start your shares and views.
How Sales Reps impact Blogging
As we know, your marketing team does almost all the work when it comes to the content management, but your sales team also plays a key role. Sales Reps who spend time interacting with customers in real life situations need to utilize their knowledge and share it with the marketing team, this is the start of what is referred to as closed loop marketing. Your Sales Reps know the interests of the current buyers, and with the right sales and marketing alignment, they can put it to use for optimizing content creation. By utilizing closed loop marketing solutions, Marketers can then tailor their content to what buyers want now!
Single Best Strategy for Blogging
Plain and simple, the best way to perfect your blog is with sales and marketing alignment. Having a clear channel of communication between your two teams results in better blog topics and blog creation. This will prevent Marketers from producing irrelevant content and losing viewers. Reps out in the field will also obtain feedback on the success of the blogs from both current and potential clients. The potential for your businesses to grow could be in the hands of a well written blog.
Is your marketing team posting irrelevant content? Are your blogs not being used to their full potential? Sales enablement can make sure you maximize your success by putting relevant insights in the hands of your Marketers.
