Blogging for business should be part of your Inbound Marketing Strategy. I remember when I first heard about blogging for business, I thought to myself, “that’s ridiculous! Why would anyone want to read about a business talking about how great they are?” It didn’t make sense, let alone sounded like it took too much time to do. Also, I figured that the written word was on it’s last leg. That everyone was all about video or podcasts and the likelihood of people actually reading would be extinct; so why would I ever invest time and energy into blogging?

Fast forward a few years and I can honestly tell you that there are DEFINITELY benefits of blogging for business. Not necessarily to share how great your business is, but to share information on your industry. Blogging does take time and requires consistency, however it pays off in spades.

Here are some of the benefits from blogging that I’ve experienced and the goal of this post is to share with you some of my learnings to help you on your way to blogging for your business success.

1. SEO Best Practice - With the amount of information out there, businesses are clamoring at the idea of SEO optimization. They want to get ranked at the top of Google. Historically, SEO companies could “game” the system to get higher ranking by using link building techniques. It was a short cut. Today, Google has changed it’s algorithm to award sites with relevant blogs. Why blogs? The fact that blogging relevant topics about your industry takes time and commitment, Google’s bots will scour your site and measure how consistent your information is and that you’re updating your content regularly. Essentially, by checking for updated, relevant information, Google knows that you’re invested in the topic or industry. Clearly the benefit here is to move your site page up the Google rankings.

2. Gatekeeper to Gaining More Qualified Leads - As I mentioned above, your target audience is searching specific information. If you provide that particular information in a compelling and interesting way, then you’ve attracted that person to your site. I’ve been working with a client where through analytic analysis, a given visitor on average would view 30+ pages before filling out the contact form. In some cases, for larger purchases, a visitor would view up to 120+ pages before making any contact or a purchase decision. That said, blogging will not only help provide important information to your target audience, it will also act as a way to qualify leads.

3. Thought Leadership - When you blog on your industry and it’s happenings, you begin to rise to the top as a thought leader. There are tons of data out in the world, but there seems to be a lack of insight. Your target audience is searching for information and opinions and you will be providing that on your blog. As you rise to “thought leadership” status in the eyes of your target audience, then you become an authority in that industry. Visitors will trust your information and your recommendations. This is another opportunity to pull your target audience through the sales funnel and convert them.

At the end of the day, blogging is definitely not a “magic bullet” to reaping in huge amounts of money. However, blogging DOES lead to consistent growth by providing consistent, relevant information to the people who are seeking it out. You want to serve up the right information at the right time and blogs are a tool in achieving that.