Top 3 Ways You Are Underestimating The Power Of A Blog
In 2023, all the rules for achieving reach are changing and your blog is going to be more important than ever.
Did you know that 90% of websites get zero organic traffic from Google? That’s right, none. Which should be alarming to anyone who uses the internet to generate revenue. Marketing insiders claim that over saturation have made google and meta ads next to useless. By the end of 2023, advertising as we know it, will no longer be viable for small businesses. Because desperation breeds creativity, blogs have been thrown back into the spotlight, again, and their utility and capability to replace ads is the water cooler topic de jour.
Will blogs replace Google and Meta ads for small business?
The short answer is probably, and the reasons why are relatively obvious when history and utility are taken into account.
Let’s look at how we got here in the first place. In over 85% of all new business, founders report that they themselves have no marketing skills or experience. Outsourcing marketing strategy has been standard for many years now. Paying for reach and visibility is the usual road new business owners take. Social media marketing, powered by platforms and google, provided a low-cost, acceptable ROI solution for the lower end of the market. Boutique agencies were established and the system seemed to work. Now, the glut of brands vying for impressions, let alone the swelling demographic of Solo-preneures, is breaking the system. And very few businesses are in the position to adapt.
The over reliance brands and businesses have had on paid social media advertising, has changed the way e-commerce sites function. Website speed is rated the most important factor of consideration when assessing the quality of a website. In fact, 87% of users will leave a site that takes longer than 2 seconds to load. To improve speed, many website builders will limit the number of pages a site has. This is the easiest option, compared to cleaning up code or repairing other site functions which are more time costly. Especially in the retail space, priority is given to product display over content building. A shift in priority has already happened which values appearance over functionality. This trend has crippled these websites and made it difficult to alter their functionality to adapt to changing circumstances.
As someone who teaches others how to create blogs and sales converting website copy, as well as working as a freelancer, I have seen the power a blog has to transform a brand’s website and conversion rate.
In my opinion, every single business site should have one.
I have heard everything about blogs from “they are just for recipes” to “only old people read them”. If everyone knew what a blog could do for their business, I ,and all my fellow freelancers, could retire early. Marketer’s who only work digitally have been aware of this oncoming problem for awhile. The immediate strategy of doing ads, before considering the breadth of avenues available for brands looking to increase visibility, was always limited and short sighted. The agency’s who threw everything at social media advertising dominated the industry for a period of time. The hastening of social media advertising’s saturation, and lack of long term strategy building, will kill off any marketer’s who cannot pivot quickly, and adapt their clients to new ideas before the close of 2023
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The Power of a Blog-
From free traffic, to additional revenue, these are the top 3 reasons you should post a blog immediately.
FREE, ORGANIC TRAFFIC: An active blog attracts website traffic. Fact. As long as there is a consistent posting schedule and it’s archives are routinely updated, it will increase the overall traffic to the site. How? In a few ways. The blog increases the overall bulk of content of the site because content is measured in text. Websites that are light in their content are rated lower by Google than content heavy sites. This is because Google considers user experience when listing search results, and ranking SEO. A website with more content has a higher likelihood of meeting the users search criteria, and user satisfaction is why Google is the monolith it is today. Secondly, more words means more keywords. When the site is scraped for matching search terms, more words make it more likely that the site will rank.
Headings, titles, meta descriptions and captions are where keywords live and a blog provides search engines a steady supply. Additionally, once a customer has reached the site, a blog will increase the amount of time that visitor remains on the site. Important product information, industry awareness, establishing authority and providing value all occur on the business blog. Visitors can find answers to their questions and develop a relationship and sense of trust which are the most powerful gateways to a sale and brand loyalty. Finally, back links from other websites encourage users to click directly through and establishes verification with google as to the sites usability, popularly and activity.
BLOGS MAKE MONEY: while 1/3rd of all blogs don’t generate any income, for the other 66%, blogs make their writers between 10,000 and more than 1 million dollars per annum. For a business, any extra income is welcome and takes the pressure off the overall marketing strategy. A blog generates income by leading the visitor to purchase directly from the blog itself. When the blog is ranking separate to the site, potential customers are guided through the sales journey from the blog, with calls to action like subscribing to an email list, booking a call, buying a digital product or purchasing direct. Affiliate links are a massive generator of cash, with nearly 50% of links generating $20,000 per annum. One brand can definitely sell another brands products in complimentary sales. In just one example, a service based business can recommend books, tech products, SAAS, or digital downloads without compromising their own brand image. Blogs also offer web space for advertising banners and masthead’s, and can be paywalled to generate passive subscription income.
REPLACE ADS: in terms of marketing a brand identity and nurturing customer relationships, a blog is up there with a careful email strategy. A blog that is crafted to be compounding- in that it is built to be evergreen and acts to solve problems and provide educational and problem aware content, will encourage a sense of brand trust and loyalty. A blog is never immediately considered by consumers to be marketing or salesy (unless it’s written that way). A blog also has the luxury of length and context. Ad copy is tight, short and aims for impact. It is an incredibly difficult piece of copy to get right. Much depends on the current society climate, major events and dominant discourse as well as visual elements, reputation and consumer attitudes. An ad is inherently public and interpreted as being public property. Whereas a blog is something that the consumer has some agency in finding for themselves. The medium, either a smartphone or PC, is single user, and the consumer enjoys a perception of privacy. The consumer chooses the blog and is searching for something within it. These factors make the blog far superior to an average Meta ad. Fortunately, we will be able to watch this unfold in real time.
Can you write a blog that converts for your business?
Understanding copywriting fundamentals and allowing yourself space to test and refine is your best shot.
There is no rule that says to start a business you must know marketing. HOWEVER, when you are small or just starting out, being the driver of the marketing process and brand development is one of the smartest choices you can make. Taking the time to learn and understand how to tell your brand story to your ideal customer, and identifying what your ideal customer really wants and needs, will pay dividends.
For a controversial suggestion- the business owner should write the business blog.
And not as a personal newsletter, but a customer centric, customer serving blog. Identify the problem, explain your solution, give value, help your customer. The old frame of “powerful brand” “lowly consumer” is outdated and without a customer centric service model, your end will arrive quickly and harshly. I remember reading somewhere that the ugliest trait in a person is when they just want something from you. It’s on par with being miserly. And no one actually cares what the CEO had for lunch.
This guide to the Jeff Bezos copywriting method, which made him a billionaire, is a reference and tutorial for writing copy specifically designed to communicate clearly and convert into sales. I recommend it if your just starting to feel your way into copywriting and want to give blog writing a go.
Please reach out for further information, I’m happy to discuss copywriting with you and offer my suggestions or ideas to help you produce writing that encourages actions and change.