Does Your Local Business Need a Blog? Yes. Here's Why
As you review your marketing budget and resources, you may be tempted to invest in flashier social media options that drive immediate engagement. However, every part of your content portfolio provides value in some way – including blogging.
Whether you are at the helm of a Fortune 500 company or run a small business in your area, you need a blog.
Keep reading to discover the benefits a local business blog can bring to your SEO, social media, and sales efforts.
#1) Blog Content Boosts Your SEO
Blogging and SEO go hand-in-hand. If you want to rank well for new keywords and reach your target audience, then you need to focus on content. You can’t expect your web development side to handle all of your SEO efforts without focusing on what you are actually publishing.
There are several ways that your blog content helps your SEO:
- It keeps your business website current and gives Google crawlers more reasons to visit it and adjust your site’s rankings.
- It keeps people on your website longer, boosting behavioral metrics that will help your rankings.
- It helps you target more keywords than just those on your static pages.
- It helps reinforce your top keywords by linking to relevant content that you are hoping to rank for.
- It gives other brands and publishers more reasons to link to your website, which will boost your rankings.
Why would you just limit your website to a few target keywords that you may or may not be ranking for? With a blog, you can develop an entire keyword strategy around certain terms that you want to rank for and reinforce your SEO strategy – all while creating a positive user experience.
Read More: The SEO Strategies and Best Practices Every Business Needs to Know
#2) Your Blog Gives People Reasons to Visit Your Website
You may visit a website that has static content once, but why would you go back if nothing has changed? The same logic applies to your customers and your website. They may visit your webpage to learn about your brand, but that doesn’t give them a reason to return.
Returning website visitors are more likely to become customers.
The constant reminder about your brand and website engagement encourages people to visit your location or schedule an appointment.
One of the best examples of a successful local business blog would be a salon or spa. The business could talk about the benefits of massage, the popular nail trends for the season, and how to prepare for a wax. This content is all relevant and informative and encourages customers to try the services associated with them.
Your blog supports the middle part of your sales funnel.
- Social media is the first engagement. It introduces people to your brand and its products.
- Your website is the second engagement. Customers return to your website and blog a few times to read engaging content and learn about your brand.
- Finally, these customers visit your store or buy your products, completing the sales cycle.
Ignoring your blog means ignoring an important part of the customer journey.
#3) Blog Content Supports Social Media and Email Marketing
Your local business blog is not a stand-alone marketing effort. The benefits you reap can extend throughout your other channels.
For example, you can share your blog content on social media and include it in your email marketing efforts. Instead of creating blog, social, and email content separately, you can create one piece of content and share it with different audiences.
Your email and social efforts will grow the traffic to your blog (making it more popular and useful) while your blog boosts engagement in other channels. If you think of your marketing tactics as having a symbiotic relationship then you can build your successes on top of each other.
Read More: Why Every Business Needs to Start Acting Like a Media Company
Local Business Blog FAQs
It’s not uncommon for brands to decide that they want to start a local business blog, only to feel stuck on what to post. There are several moving pieces within a blog, and we are here to provide a few best practices to make your planning easier.
How Often Should You Post? Do not overextend yourself with your publishing schedule. If you only have the time and resources for one post per month, don’t try to post weekly. You will either burn out or create sub-par content. Start by posting once or twice per month and see if you can handle the publishing schedule.
How Long Should Your Blog Posts Be? This is not an easy question to answer. Some people will tell you that your blog post should be more than 1,600 words, while other experts will say that the bare minimum is around 350.
The real answer is that the blog post should be however long it takes to cover the topic. If you just need to review your fall specials, then your blog post likely won’t be more than 500 words. However, if you want to take a deep dive into a specific industry issue, your content could get up to 3,000 words. Try to write at least 500 words per post, but know that quality is always more important than quantity in the blogging world.
What Should You Post About? The blog content possibilities are endless for your brand. Start by highlighting a few topics or themes to build blog ideas around, and then brainstorm three or four ideas around that theme.
For example, if a clothes store wanted to write a post about kids clothes, they could come up with back-to-school fashion ideas, essential items for growing kids, or finding formal kids clothes for events. One theme generated several ideas.
Read More: Blog Posts for Local Businesses: What Should We Write About?
Launch Your Local Business Blog Today!
Now that you see the value in launching a business blog and see that it's not too difficult to do, get started today!
Or, if you find that you still don’t have the resources or the skill set to launch and maintain one, let us know. Reach out to MyArea Network, and we'll help you design a blog and content marketing strategy that builds your SEO, engages your audience, and supports your social media and email marketing initiatives.
Schedule an appointment today with one of our marketing specialists to learn your next steps.
