If blogging is not an integral part of your sales and marketing strategy, you’re missing out on one of the most effective brand-building opportunities at your disposal.  With proper execution, blogging can be a driving force that helps to increase brand recognition, customer loyalty and sales.

For many businesses, producing blog content is a burden they would rather not deal with. They either don’t have the time, don’t know what to write about or undervalue content as a means to impact their bottom line.

If you’re someone who’s had difficulty wrapping your head around why you should blog, this article is for you.

Here are 5 reasons you should start blogging today.

1. Blogging establishes expertise and thought leadership

One of the biggest obstacles to driving leads and sales online is making prospective customers trust you, and one of the best ways to build trust is by establishing yourself as an expert.

The word expert may seem intimidating, but it doesn’t require a PhD to become one. Whether you own a medical practice or a lawn care company, you have valuable knowledge that can inform, educate and help existing and potential customers solve problems and make decisions.

Regardless of your profession or industry, remember that most people who will be reading your content know a lot less than you do, and are looking for someone to guide them. If you can be that guiding light, it’s quite easy to build a following, and to become an influencer.

Here are a few types of blog posts that can help to build your status as an expert:

– How-to guides or videos
– Debunking common myths
– Do-It-Yourself Tips
– Educational articles

2. Useful content drives brand loyalty

By producing free content aimed to inform, help or educate your audience, you’re showing an altruistic side that is proven to build bonds with customers. Geek Squad, for example, has an amazing YouTube channel with hundreds of tutorials for troubleshooting various technical issues.

Why is a company who makes money fixing things for people showing them how to do it for free? Their philosophy is that a good percentage of people watching their videos will eventually run into a problem they can’t fix themselves, and turn to Geek Squad for help. This type of strategy requires commitment to a long-term return on investment, and faith in how being useful can pay off.

3. Writing facilitates learning

One of our favorite blogs, PPC Hero, recently published a post called “Why We Blog Everyday”. In the article, they state that the number one reason they write so much content is because it stimulates learning.

The process of writing a piece of content inherently involves researching, reading what others have written and thinking long and hard about how you can add value by offering a fresh perspective. By writing frequently, you will sharpen your written and analytical skills, which helps in other areas of business. From proposal writing to white papers to Power Point decks, the better you can organize written content, the more effective you’ll be as a business person, and a leader.

Bonus Tip:
You can ask others in your company to partake in writing as well, as a way to keep them sharp and continually learning about their respective job roles. To take it one step further, organize meetings and ask people to verbally present articles they’ve written.

4. Fresh content drives SEO value

Google loves fresh content. It sends signals that your website is alive and not a static set of pages that have stayed the same since the year 2000. Most importantly, those same signals are used to determine SEO value.

Popular blogs build great SEO value by doing the following:

– driving repeat visits
– driving new visits
– driving user comments
– driving social shares

This tactic is particularly powerful if your website already ranks well for industry keywords and has a decent domain authority. If Google trusts your site, you may be able to get new posts to rank quickly, which can drive a lot of traffic and user comments.

If your site doesn’t rank well or is brand new, it’s time to work on some epic long-form content that you can share and get recognized for.

5. Adds value to your products and services

The key to using a blog to promote products or services is to refrain from being too salesy and focus on producing informational content that plants a mental seed, instead of asking for the sale.

For example, if your a dermatologist, you may write an article about acne treatment and why expensive mail-order topical solutions can be harmful and ineffective. If you sell sneakers, you may blog about the hottest new hi-tops for the upcoming season, and curate a collection comprised of products in your online store.

By being informative and not too pushy, you can indirectly nudge visitors closer to conversion.