Business blogging builds strong client databases
Most business leaders understand blogging is an important part of engaging target audiences. While the responsibility of the blog’s production usually rests on the shoulders of the marketing department, it would be wise for the sales team to start paying close attention to what’s getting published. Why? Because the right blog strategy will help build a strong client database they can leverage immediately.
Reason 1: Blogs drive website traffic
Blogging regularly is a great way to encourage organic inbound traffic, and what business doesn’t want to increase website traffic? Unlike many paid advertising options, blogging can be quite cost-effective — you simply need to put the right strategy and man-power behind it.
In addition to developing your authority and engaging your readers, you’ll also help boost your search rankings. Every time you post, it’s one more page indexed on your website and one more opportunity for a potential customer to find your website when they search.
Reason 2: Blogs build an audience
A blog should be educational, inspirational and, at times, entertaining. It should not offer a hard sell of the product. In fact, some of the best blogs won’t even mention the product — they simply offer great information to readers and establish your reputation as a trusted thought leader.
The more useful and intriguing the information, the more likely the reader will be to come back for more. You must answer your audience’s questions, offer unique insights and serve up strong doses of expertise in digestible nuggets.
Additionally, remember to promote the blog via social, in newsletters and even on email signatures. Add share buttons so readers can spread the posts to their networks. Encourage and engage in the comments section. A blog is not static; it needs to be attended to daily. If you do all this, in addition to publishing top-quality content, an audience will grow by leaps and bounds.
Reason 3: Blogs are lead-generating machines
So what does all of this have to do with sales? Plenty. All that new traffic can be turned into leads by strategically using a lead-generating call-to-action at the end of every single blog post.
This CTA could be a sentence written within the copy to direct the reader toward the next steps, or it could be an actual button at the bottom that entices the reader to click. You could use it to promote a newsletter or even offer a free whitepaper or e-book. Maybe you’re having a contest and you want encourage entries. In the end, you can use many different carrots to encourage people to share their information.
Try different CTA strategies and see what is most effective. Use benchmarks and keep tabs on how people are using your blog. Your reads-to-leads conversion will help build that client database each month. Then it’s up to sales to do what they do best.
