Much has been written about how a blog can help a company.  The list of benefits have been well touted including:

• Enhancing the company’s visibility
• Helping the company appear more human by letting the brand personality show
• Allowing interaction with their customer base
• Building credibility and trust by establishing the company as an industry expert

But what every CEO needs to know is that a blog can be a vital component of getting people to come to your website, and generating leads and new customers. 

Blogs generate more SEO than any other content on your website.  They are at the heart of the fresh, dynamic online content that search engines like Google like to see.  Most companies don’t change their website pages often, but a steady stream of new blogs bring vital new information on your site. If you don’t update your company’s site with new information frequently, your competitors who do will rank higher than yours in search results.

Blogs can also be repurposed, providing content for social media, newsletters, emails and ebooks.  An added bonus is that if you connect your blog to your Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts, your SEO gets a boost as well.  

Popularity is nice, but what this really comes down to is business – leads and customers.

According to a survey by inbound marketing leader Hubspot, 82% of businesses who blog acquired a customer through their blogs. For B2B companies, those that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not. *

Whether your company is large or small, and whether you have a dedicated blogger or a team assigned to blog, there are some very important things to remember:

• Create a blog schedule and stick to it to continuously create new content
• Write content that is relevant and gives your company a personality and voice i.e.: talk about new products or services, comment on timely news topics or market trends, and share company initiatives
• To move readers into prospects and eventually leads, include some form of offer (white paper, discount, ebook) that readers will need to give you their information to acquire – then use these names to reach out to them on a regular basis with special offers, enewsletters, emails, etc.

By putting a little effort and a few resources into your company’s blog, you will have a cost-effective marketing investment that will help to build brand awareness, promote the company’s expertise, products and services and, most importantly, deliver potential customers.

* Source: FactBrowser