Companies writing blogs produce an average of 67% more leads monthly than companies that don’t blog. (DemandMetric)
Businesses writing blogs get 55% more website visitors than businesses that don’t. (HubSpot)
Perhaps you’re writing blogs already for your business and you’re not getting enquiries, leads or clients from your efforts, perhaps you’re curious about blogging or perhaps you’ve decided blogging isn’t for you.
Perhaps it’s something else.
But in this busy and noisy online world, with your audience expecting to find answers to their questions 24/7, it’s important to understand your audience and how they use online searches to provide answers to their questions.
Questions you can answer by writing blogs and putting them on your website.
Blogging is a great way to show your audience you’re the one for them. Or not.
In this blog, I’ll explain why writing blogs is effective in helping you to attract enquiries, leads and clients, why your business needs a blog on your website and why blogging has so many benefits to your business.
What is a blog?
Hubspot have a pretty fab explanation
“A blog used to be associated mostly with those sharing personal journals but today it’s a regularly updated website or web page, and can either be used for personal use or to fulfil a business need.”
My blog is predominantly about marketing.
Why?
Because the type of clients I want to attract want help with this.
My blog sits on my website and it’s where all my blog posts will be but I can use social media to drive traffic to my blogs and share blogs with my email list too.
My blog isn’t sitting gathering dust. It earns its keep.
Writing blogs is effective for my business.
What is a blog post?
A blog post is a stand-alone page on your website that provides useful and helpful content about a sub-topic of what your blog is about.
As I’ve mentioned, my blog is about marketing but I’ll create blog posts about lead magnets, blogging, your marketing plan, content ideas etc.
Why effective blogging is important for a small business
You might be doing fine getting your enquiries, leads and clients from your social media or networking face to face.
Why do you need a blog?
Marcus Sheridan tells us “The way your potential client engages with businesses has changed.”
Something happens that you don’t know the answer to, what do you do?
You Google it.
From “Why is my washing machine making a loud grinding noise?”, “What’s the best bed for a small dog?”, “Best recipe for vegetarians”, “How long should I bake a potato for?”, “How much will a wheel for my bike cost?” to “washing machine Bosch v Beko”.
It’s the same for your audience.
Got a problem? Need information? Got a question? They Google it, looking for the best answer to their question, and these questions are usually answered in blogs.
Today, on average, 70% of the buying decision is made BEFORE a prospect talks to the company. Chances are this figure is only going to increase.
Marcus Sheridan tells us ‘If they ask, we answer’ and a great way to do that is by writing blogs.
How many people are internet users?
According to Statista, in January 2021 the internet had 4.66 billion active users.
And your prospects are included in that number so it makes sense to be where they are and giving them the best useful and helpful content.
Blogs help your potential client make their all-important decision to buy
Blogs are more effective when they:
- Answers your audience’s questions
- Builds trust between you and your audience
- Are useful and helpful
Give the best answers and the best content that answers what your prospect has typed in.
How can your blog convert a reader to a lead?
Time for a bit of honesty here.
Does having a blog guarantee it will get you enquiries and leads?
No. Every blog reader ain’t gonna become a lead.
But the more they see you sharing useful and helpful content the more you’re increasing your authority and trust with them.
You’re building that all important know, like and trust factor.
How can you increase the chances of your blog getting enquiries and leads?
You can increase your chances of turning the reader to a lead by offering them a call to action on every blog.
What’s a call to action?
A call to action is an invitation to take a specific action.
In the case of your blog, you can ask them to:
- Sign up to your lead magnet
- Leave a comment
- Book a call
- Drop me an email
- Buy your product or service
As I’ve mentioned, blogs are more effective at getting you enquiries, leads and clients when they:
- Answers your audience’s questions
- Builds trust between you and your audience
- Are useful and helpful
What questions do your blogs need to be answering to get enquiries, leads and clients?
So many websites have bucket loads of content helping their audience with what they’re struggling with, and giving them useful and helpful content about how to solve their problem.
Here’s the ‘but’.
Your blog, to be effective at getting you enquiries, leads and clients needs to be answering so many more of their questions.
Create and share content that has the best and most specific answer to the questions your audience asks.
And now I’m going to give you tips on how to start thinking about your content that answers the questions your audience asks you.
Let’s look at how you and your audience will use the internet to get answers to questions and information you want and need.
There are different stages to a search. These searches play their part in the buyer’s journey
What is your buyer’s journey?
Your buyer’s journey is everything you do to take them from never having heard of you (total stranger) to them telling the world how FAB you are (Raving fan). (Kenda MacDonald)
And yes, your blog can play a huge part in this.
I don’t know why this is happening
There’s the “I don’t know why this is happening” stage. This is going from being Unaware to Aware they have a problem, niggle, concern, need, query etc.
These searches tend to start with “Why”, “What is”, “How to” and “What to” type of searches.
At this stage of their search, they’re not ready to buy from you or anyone else. They are solely looking for help to a problem that’s presented itself to them.
Let’s use an example of a parent with a toddler that’s a fussy eater. The parent wants to know why and what’s causing it so they’re searching for specific solutions.
- Why is my toddler a fussy eater?
- Why won’t my toddler eat vegetables?
- Why does my toddler have a tantrum at meal times?
- What is causing my toddler to be a fussy eater?
- What is the best way to get your toddler to eat vegetables?
This type of content helps them to identify a specific problem – which is what they wanted and they were looking for.
Now it’s got them thinking, and chances are they’ve not identified the problem.
What do they do when they’ve identified their problem?
They want more answers so they’ll change their search to include more “How to” and “What to” questions.
Let’s stick with the parent with the toddler that’s a fussy eater.
Their search could now look like this:
- “How to cope with a fussy eater at meal times”
- “How to make sure your fussy eater stays healthy”
- “What to do to make meal times fun for your toddler”
Decision time
The next stage I like to call “Who will I buy from?” also known as the consideration stage.
This is where they have had a light shone on their problem and they’re looking for a solution.
They’re now weighing up who to buy from and it could be you.
You need different blogs for this stage.
The type of content and blogs you create and publish is still focussing on answering their questions, but now it’s about your product/service, your competition and/or your industry.
Why?
According to Responsive Inbound Marketing, 70% of consumers would rather learn about a product or service through content or blog posts rather than from an ad.
What type of questions will your audience be asking during their consideration stage?
The most common questions are around:
- Pricing and costs
- Problems
- Versus and comparisons
- Reviews
- Best in class
I’ve written a blog that shows you how to use these topics and I’ve included some fab examples for you too. You can read it here
In Summary:
Your audience is expecting to find answers to their questions online 24/7.
Your website and your blog is your opportunity to attract more enquiries, leads and clients.
THE MONDAY MORNING MARKETING MEMO
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