8 reasons why blogging is a powerful lead gen tool

10 years ago, blogging was simply a hobby, but now it's an essential part of our marketing tool kit.

There are approximately 500 million blogs worldwide, and even though blogging has hit it big, I still get puzzled looks and questions when I advise someone to start a blog for their business.

And for that reason, I thought it would help business owners out there to see exactly what the benefits are of blogging for their business, but before I jump into the main reasons, here are some interesting stats (courtesy of?Hubspot):

• Businesses that blog experience 126% more lead growth than businesses that don't.
• 47% of buyers view 3-5 pieces of content before making contact with a business.
• ?70% of people would rather learn about a company through articles than advertisements.

That definitely shows how powerful blogging can be for a business, but let's dive in and look at the benefits in more detail:

Establish yourself as an expert

People don't buy from businesses or people they don't trust. So, when you publish your blogs, you're positioning yourself as an expert. You're demonstrating your knowledge and expertise, showing you know what you're talking about.

This helps build trust with your?potential clients or customers.

And that trust can be built even further when you interact with people in the comments. Don't just post and run; make sure you have notifications for people commenting, and check back regularly to see if any comments have been missed.

Get more traffic to your website

Apart from wanting to be entertained, people regularly use the internet to find solutions to their problems, and this is where?blogging?can make a massive difference to your website traffic.

It can be difficult to rank in Google if you're using broad keywords like "business coach" or "landscape gardener". Thousands of sites will rank for these general terms, so getting noticed is almost impossible.

But, if someone goes online and searches for their problem (a longtail keyword), your site has more chance of getting noticed. Here's an example:

Let's say your business is handmade jewellery - if you search handmade jewellery on Google, you will end up with millions of pages. However, if you have a blog that answers the question "how do I choose the best jewellery for my outfit", you stand much more chance of getting onto the first couple of pages when someone searches for this question.

Generate more leads

Just like every blog post is another page for Google to index - giving you more opportunities to get found. Every blog post is also an opportunity to get more leads.

And, the way you do that is very simple.

At the end of every blog post, include a call to action (CTA), and often, these CTAs will lead to what we call?lead magnets. These include ebooks, whitepapers, fact sheets, webinars, etc. Basically, any type of valuable content someone would be willing to exchange for their email address...

Just in case you're not clear on how this process (often called?a funnel) works, here's a brief overview:

• A visitor lands on your blog
• They see the CTA for a free offer
• They click on the CTA and arrive at a?landing page, which contains a form for them to fill in with their information
• They fill out the form, submits information, and receives the free offer
• From there, you can nurture them through an?email sequence, building that know, like and trust factor and leading them to a point where they are ready to buy

At the end of this post, you'll see my own CTA.

Answer customer questions and overcome objections

Customers will always have questions, and the logical side of their brain is constantly telling them why they shouldn't buy whatever product or service you are offering. So, blogging can be a great way to overcome these objections before you ever get to the point of a sales call.

For example, one objection I often get is that hiring a copywriter is expensive. And I get it, we're in scary times, but because of these scary times, businesses need to push their marketing more than ever.

So, I could do blogs about recent customer successes and how their results from working with me covered their investment many times over.

Or you could do an FAQs blog that answers the most common questions you get asked.

There are loads of ways you can help your customers in the buying decision process before you've even spoken to them.

Generate social media content

Generating?social media content?is something a lot of business owners struggle with. They either don't know what to post or don't have the time to create daily content, but that's where a blog helps.

A blog is typically a long-form piece of content that contains a lot of information that can be easily broken down into bite-size pieces for social media.

For example, I could take this post and create a week of content sharing the top reasons every business should blog. The same goes for videos or podcasts; if you have any long-form content, it can be repurposed. You can even turn videos or podcasts into blog posts and then repurpose them for social media.

The possibilities are endless.

SEO and link building

As I mentioned above, using?longtail keywords?is a great way to help improve your rankings on Google, but there are other SEO benefits to blogging for your business.

Google loves fresh content and websites that are regularly updated. So, if you're adding a weekly or monthly blog to your site, this lets Google know that you're site is active and relevant. If a website is left without being updated for 6 months or more, it quickly starts to move down the rankings.

Another huge benefit to blogging is link building. Links to your blog from other websites show Google that people find your content interesting, and this boosts rankings. However, getting links back to your blog can be challenging, particularly from high-quality sites, so I recommend researching this in more detail. I highly recommend?Matthew Woodward's?content and signing up for his mailing list.

You can also build internal links. These links on your blog send people to other parts of your website (you would have seen them throughout this post). The reason this is so beneficial is that a. it helps Google see how your pages are linked, and b. it means people will stay on your website longer as they browse through other blogs or your site pages in general.

Lead conversion

Generating more leads is great but wouldn't it be even better if blogging could help you convert those leads?

Well, it can and here's how.?

Reducing the marketing process down to its most basic, there are three stages to the buying process.

1. The Awareness Stage
2. The Consideration Stage
3. The Decision Stage

And blogging can help at all 3 stages.

The awareness stage

Checklists and tips in a blog post can help attract new clients or customers and get them interested in your products or services.

The consideration stage

"how-to" topics can help customers in this stage that might need a little push and a little more info about a product.

The decision stage

testimonial and?case study?blogs can help a customer in the decision stage who may need social proof before purchasing from you.

Helps share business news

Blogging is a great way to get your business news out into the world.

Taken on a new member of staff? Share it.

Have a new offer? Share it.

Attending a local event or business show? Share it.

You can literally share any of your business news. This really helps your customers, or even potential customers, stay up to date with what you're doing and how your business is developing.

All of this helps that know, like, trust we hear about all the time.

Read Next:?5 free ways to promote your blog

So that's it, 8 reasons why blogging for your business is a powerful lead gen tool. Are you convinced? Are you ready to start your blog or revive a neglected blog?

If so, it's not too late to grab my August offer. There are just a few days left, but if you order and pay for 4 blogs before 6 pm on August 31st, you will only pay for 3!

That's just ￡240 for 3 blogs.

Find out what you can expect when you?hire a professional blogger.

You can DM me on any of my social media or drop me an email at?[email protected]

Or

If you're ready to start writing your blog yourself, check out my?FREE?guide to triple your profits with these copywriting hacks. When you join, you will also receive my weekly email, Get Copy Confident, where I share tips and advice for making your copy the best it can be.

Or

If you're stuck with where to start with your social media or blogs, I send a?FREE?email every Sunday with 7 content ideas for the week ahead to help you get those creative juices flowing. You can?sign up here.

Until next time, I hope you have a great weekend xx