18 Ways Blogging Generates More Leads For Your Business

By Minna Salmesvuo | September 1, 2015

“Every business needs to have a blog!” Said the well-known presenter and successful Australian entrepreneur in a business seminar I attended recently.

This one comment got me thinking about how little understood yet far-reaching the benefits of blogging are in generating more – not just any, but – qualified leads for your business! I started listing all those ways blogging can generate more leads for businesses and the possibilities are quite mind-blowing when you consider all the outcomes of posting regular keyword-optimised blog posts!

So, here we go!

18 ways blogging generates more leads for your business:

1. Blogging is one of the most valuable tools that businesses have to engage with customers.

2. Blogging is great for SEO (search engine optimisation) Where does almost everyone on this planet begin their search for products and services? You guessed it: on Google! For your business to exist, it needs to come up on google search. Not on the 2nd or the 5th page, on the 1st page, only 3% of people look further than the first page. And remember Google traffic is free traffic, so you want to capture as much of this traffic as you can!

3. Research shows that 60% of business who blog acquire more customers

4. Blog provides keyword-optimised regularly posted fresh content, which Google likes

5. Your website gets return visitors, which Google also likes

6. Your website comes up in Google search more often to wider range of keywords: Every new blog post can be optimised for a different keyword term, so every blog post is a new opportunity to generate new traffic to your site. All this means FREE TRAFFIC to your site and if you have a great opt-in offer this means LEADS for your business, without any additional work besides creating and sharing blog posts!

7. Blogging builds relationships: People get to know you and if you share valuable content and they like your posts, they are likely to like you and trust you – when they know, like & trust you, they do business with you!

8. It is your own communication channel to educate others about your business and services

9. Shares your expertise and positions you as an expert in your field: Blogging gives you expert positioning in your industry because you get to show what I can do to help your clients and customers

10. Market research & feedback – how your blog posts are received tells you what your audience wants

11. Your blog is the heart of all of your content marketing efforts. It feeds content for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, email newsletters, e-books, etc.

12. It creates free PR. Business bloggers are often interviewed by journalists as industry experts.

13. A blog builds confidence, relationships and sales. Customers will look to you as a reliable resource for information on your industry; then come to you to buy.

14. Blogs are cost-effective marketing investments. Every post you publish helps build brand awareness and promote your expertise, products and services.

15. Blog posts are a long-term asset: That means for days, weeks, months, and years to come, you can continue to get traffic and leads from that blog post. One hour of effort today can turn into hundreds of thousands of views and leads in the future. What other marketing investment gives a long-term return on investment?

16. It helps convert that traffic into leads. Each post is a new opportunity to generate new leads. Just add a lead-generating call-to-action to every blog post.

17. Blogging also helps you get discovered via social media. Every time you write a blog post, you’re creating content that people can share on social networks — Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ — which helps expose your business to a new audience that doesn’t know you yet.

18. You can blog even if you can’t write or don’t have any time to spare! Create a quick 2-minute video blog posts or hire someone else to write, research and publish the content for you! It’s easier and cheaper than you think!

If you’re not blogging, it’s time to get started or get left behind.

Ready to get started?

Here are a few extra tips to help you get started!!

The 5 Essential steps of blogging BEFORE you write anything:

1. Know your keywords. Hint: No, they are not what you are selling, they are what your prospects are keying in Google when searching. In addition to this you will need to make sure there are enough searches but not too much competition for your keywords, or they won’t do much in terms of lead generation!

2. Know your audience. And write for your audience. Keep in mind who they are and what they are interested in.

3. Content Marketing Strategy for your blogging content and editorial calendar that works for your business and circumstances that saves you time and money while brings in qualified leads.

4. Create a process for sharing your blog posts. After you have created a blog post, you will need to make sure you will get it out into your social media channels and email list to get the most traffic and leads out of the content your create.

5. Don’t try to do it all on your own! Many parts for the blogging process can be automated or outsourced to others for a very small investment.