Five Ways Blogging Can Help Take Your Online Business To The Next Level

Have you ever searched for an answer to some obscure topic and found a blog post that answered your question and still provided you with additional knowledge? Blogs are a great way to get people to notice your business. It puts your business on the map especially when Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are concerned. This goes to show how important blogging can be not just for the discovery of your retail business but also for its overall growth.

Here is a fun fact for you: 56% of people buy something from an online retail store or business after reading their blog.  This means that by creating and maintaining a blog for your business, you are increasing your chances of sales. Furthermore, this costs you little to nothing except some time and manpower.

Here are five ways blogging can help take your online business to the next level:

1. Enhancing SEO With Regular Blogging

SEO refers to the practice of improving a website’s visibility to ensure better rankings on Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). Blogging is known to strengthen your SEO efforts by providing an avenue for you to use keywords in an informative way which gives you an edge over pages that do not. This also increases traffic to your website because you are providing search engine users with valuable information that will likely keep them returning to your website.

However, you should ensure you are using keywords that are relevant to your field or niche. Ranking for irrelevant keywords will not provide the growth you seek because there will be a disconnect between the customers you attract and the goods or services you are offering. For example, if you run an online gadget store, it is best to write blog posts on related issues such as the best headphones on the market, how to make your battery last longer, and caring for a new phone.

Search engines tend to rank your website higher when you have consistent and updated blog posts centered around searched keywords. This is why you need to ensure that you are regularly putting out content on your blog.

2. Building Reader Engagement With Valuable Content

Blogging can help you build a sizeable readership which will inevitably contribute to the growth of your online business. However, you need to keep the attention of these readers, otherwise, you might end up blogging for a nonexistent audience.

It is easy to get carried away with promoting your business when blogging but you should limit the frequency of purely promotional posts. You can use the 4-1-1 rule used in social media marketing which essentially states that 4 of your posts should be educational or entertaining content, 1 should be a soft promotion, and the last 1 can be a hard sell of your products or services.

Furthermore, you should ensure you are not blogging about the same kind of content. Do not be afraid to shake things up a little to provide your readers with new and engaging content. Despite the need for diversification of your content, always ensure that your chosen topics relate to your field.

You can always promote your business through your content by either internally linking it in the post or providing a gentle Call-to-action (CTA) at the end of your posts. For example, if you want to see how to structure your blog and its content, check out ours.

3. Expanding Reach Through Social Media Sharing

As an online retail business, you cannot simply post articles on your blog and leave it at that. You should maximize the reach using all your other marketing efforts. A great way to do that is by using social media. You most likely already have a following on social media and you can convert those followers into readers by sharing your blog posts.

It is impossible to share entire blog posts on social media platforms which are often geared towards short-form content. However, you can share snippets of your blog posts on your pages. Try to repurpose your blog content to fit the requirements of the social media platform of your choice. For example, if you use Instagram, you can share highlights of your blog post in pictures while linking your blog in the caption.

Make sure you are including the share buttons for social media platforms on your blog posts. This makes it easier for a reader who finds your content interesting to share it on their social media page and increases your reach which in turn, boosts the growth of your business.

4. Utilizing Lead Generation for Subscriber Growth

Lead generation refers to the exercise of spiking interest in consumers about a product or service with the intention of turning that interest into sales. You can use this concept to turn readers of your blog into subscribers by first pulling them in and generating interest before pitching your business to them.

Make an effort to engage with your readers. You can encourage them to subscribe to your mailing list if you have one, respond to any comments or questions they leave underneath your posts, and ask them to share your content. Remember the importance of putting the share buttons on your blog posts.

You should also keep your readers updated when you have any business updates or promotions. This can be a great way to also develop and foster a relationship with your readers which can convert them into subscribers.

5. Establishing Expertise and Credibility

Blogs are a great way to show customers that you have value to provide and that you know what you are talking about. When curating blog posts, you are putting out insightful information about your industry which can help foster a sense of trust between your customers and you. It also positions you as an industry expert which means readers will be more inclined to trust your business.

It is best to write about current, important, and sometimes controversial issues in your industry to showcase your expertise. You can use your blog posts as an avenue to state your opinions on these important happenings. This further humanizes your brand which helps readers identify with it.

Building trust with customers and establishing credibility in your field is a long-term investment with significant benefits. Over time, readers will come to see your opinions as relevant and valuable. This increases the chances of them returning to your blog for more of these opinions. It is an efficient way to build and sustain a readership and a loyal customer base.

Conclusion

Blogging may be the missing piece to the puzzle of growing your online retail business. It has the potential to increase your business’s visibility, reach, and sales. It does this by increasing traffic to your website, helping you build a customer base, and increasing your reach. Now that you know the benefits you stand to gain from frequent blogging, consider starting a blog for your business today.

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