Why Blogs Still Matter In Marketing

In days gone by blogs were the kingdom of the first influencers - used by people who wanted to create a weekly (even daily) readership. They were there to promote products, share funny anecdotes, and engage people with online content. Companies ran blogs a bit like a 'round robin' to share news, and inform people of discount offers. In 2022 blogs play a much more important role...

Information gathered by the Content Marketing Institute shows that there are now 70 million new blog posts each month (globally), with a staggering 42% of those on the WordPress platform. Even more astounding is that 90% of businesses admitted that they had used blogs for marketing purposes in the last year. So, let's dig deeper via our own blog, into blogging, about blogs - try not to get lost in the inception-style layers!

SEO & Blogs

By now everyone knows what SEO is - search engine optimisation. The aim is always to get your business placed as high as possible in the search engine rankings, so that more people can see what you have to offer and click on your links. This process can be hard for brands to master on their own, mainly because the internet is so vast, and there are so many well-established companies who have the sheer scale to dominate the rankings.

However, there is a way to get ahead of your competitors and boost your SEO. By writing genuine, original articles (blogs) that are full of essential keywords and key phrases. The important thing to note is that this takes consistency and time. Pear Digital are experts in helping brands become visible, why not take a look at our case studies?

The thing is, there are lots of companies out there who don't fully understand the process before employing content writers, and then they wonder why they aren't progressing! Here are our top tips for writing successful blogs:

• Find someone who is a native language speaker, this means they should be able to add nuances to your blogs, keeping them relevant and genuine.

• Confirm with your freelancer or employee what needs to be included in each blog, with a brief explanation of the goal. This prevents 'filler' and aimless copy.

• Impress upon the writer that there should be no plagiarism from other blogs. You can quote sources, but lifting chunks of copy from other websites will mean the blog is not original and this defeats the purpose when it comes to pleasing the algorithm... not only that, it's extremely bad practice and can cause legal issues.

Indexed Pages, Original Content & Solid Sources

Moving on from our last point, search engines have several ways that they check to decide if a website is a credible source of information. On the surface they will look at how many indexed pages a site has, generally the more the better. But, it's not just about indexed pages - the content on those pages needs to be trustworthy.

One way to ensure you are recognised as a legitimate business is back-linking. This is the process of legitimately embedding links to other websites in your content. Blogs are a fantastic way to do this,  because you will be writing about related content to your brand. Within the articles you can cite sources through backlinks, and reach out to people who have websites that could benefit from linking to your blog.

For example; if you are selling small polycarbonate greenhouses you would write a strong, detailed blog on the benefits of using a greenhouse for growing produce. You would link to your sources (such as science papers, recent media interviews with experts etc), then when you are done you can find gardening websites who would be interested in linking to your blog. This can also be shared on social media - driving traffic to your website, because the blog is full of useful information.

With a skilled blog content creator, key words and phrases can be built into the article without the readers even noticing that it is a marketing piece.

Genuine, Honest Leads & Engagement

A blog should be a source of joy, a conversation between your brand and your customers. There are going to be times when you need to promote sales or offers, but in general it should be a regular feature of your website that people look forward to reading. To this end, you can also collect important customer information which will help you with email marketing, retargeting ads,  and driving your engagement.

When you bridge the gap between selling and providing a necessary service you are more likely to win people over. Don't vaguely tell them they 'need' something in their life, explain to them why you and others are already using it. Introduce your team members, add a comments section below some of the articles, run seasonal surveys - ask people what they want from you. Blogs are so versatile that none of this will appear as blatant marketing, and all of this will support your brand.

The Bottom Line, To Help Your Bottom Line

Here's the bottom line: you should be blogging. The money that you invest in this area is going towards so many aspects that build your brand, there really is no contest. The variety of marketing techniques you can include, the rapport with your customers, the leads and the visibility are something that grows over time. And as we know - all good things come to those who wait.