Before I go on and on and on… trying to convince you why you need to be blogging in 2021.

Or answer any questions you may have about how blogs improve your content marketing; let’s first have a look at these staggering statistics.

• Websites with blogs have 434% more indexed pages than websites without blogs. (Source)
• 77% of internet users read blogs. (Source)
• Marketers who prioritize blogging are 13x more likely to have a positive ROI on their efforts. (Source)
• Internet users in the US spend 3x more time on blogs than they do on email. (Source)
• 57% of marketers say they’ve gained customers specifically through blogging. (Source)
• 53% of marketers say blogging is their top content marketing priority. (Source)
• Using images in blog posts gets 94% more views. (Source)
• Companies that blog receive 97% more links to their website. (Source)

Did I grab your attention?

I bet I did.

Adjusting to the ever-changing content marketing landscape and being on top of trends as a marketer should be of utmost priority.

Blogging is one crucial part of content marketing that has remained consistent though with a few changes in strategy.

Yet, the questions I mostly receive are: “do I really need a blog for my business?” “Isn’t blogging dead?”.

Whether you run an online or local business, a blog is still crucial. It’s still worth your time and effort if you’re going to meet your content marketing goals.

If you prefer to watch the video click here or check it out below.

Watch the video: Blogging in 2021 [Part 1]: How Blogs Improve Your Content Marketing

If you’re continuing on the blog, let’s get into it.

Blogging in 2021: How Blogs Improve Your Content Marketing

Why Blogging Is Important for Business

Here are 6 ways blogging improves your content marketing.

1. Blogging Creates Value for Your Customers

Let’s be honest, you wouldn’t follow an overly salesy brand, right? 

There are no moving or interesting stories depicted in endless sales posts.

That’s why you need blogging.

Blogging allows you to provide value for your target audience while increasing the overall customer experience—which automatically sets you apart from your competitors. 

The idea behind this concept is that you give your audience something for free that helps them solve a problem.

With time, they become more loyal to you before and after making a purchase of your product and service. Boosting your content marketing goals in return.

Some of the things you could consider sharing on your blog include:

• tips,
• hacks,
• best tools,
• checklists or listicles
• customer profiles
• reviews, your biggest lessons in business
• popular content curated by you,
• industry interviews and more.

Blogging is an opportunity to educate your customers and potential customers about your services and products, keeping them updated on industry developments and trends, and show them how you can solve their challenges.

Becoming an industry thought leader through blogging is a great tactic when it comes to content marketing. 

Industry Example: M.M. LaFleur 

M.M. LaFleur is a professional apparel brand for women designed to bring comfort and ease into the lives of their clients.

Their blog promotes female empowerment by educating and having discussions surrounding women in the workplace while tying this content to their clothing line.  

Brilliant, to say the least.

2. Blogging Boosts Brand Visibility and Exposure 

Sometimes, you may feel that it’s better to focus on the management and operations of your brand rather than promotions and advertising.

But how best can you create awareness around your brand without breaking the bank to promote it?

As I usually tell my clients, blogging — is often the answer to this question.

This content marketing strategy is an ideal solution to share information about your new products and services.

Plus, search engines are bound to pick up your website if you’re constantly providing value to users.

Through blogging in 2021, you’ll increase your brand visibility because your audience won’t just be exposed to the information they’re hunting for, but will learn about you and your business in the process.

Cost-free exposure.

3. Blogging Increases Lead Conversions

In simplified terms, the three stages of converting a customer are:

• The Awareness Stage
• The Consideration Stage
• The Decision Stage

You can focus your blogging content marketing efforts on these stages. Why? Because they all play an important role in helping to convert a prospect to your business.

For instance, tips and listicles in a blog post can attract a new lead by getting them interested in your services or products.

Additionally, “how-to” topics can be used to convert leads in the consideration stage.

They might need a bit more information about your service or product to move them to the decision stage of the buying process.

And finally, you can consider using testimonial content marketing to woo a customer who is in the decision stage.

Social proof is quite critical at this stage and through blogging, you can share positive customer experiences — ultimately leading to a conversion. 

The main benefit of blogging here is that it pushes a prospect through the three lead conversion stages (awareness, consideration, decision) without actually “selling” to them.

4. Blogging Asserts Your Authority as an Industry Expert

How you write and how your blog looks communicate your brand voice and personality.

This gives you a unique edge and allows your audience to develop a profound bond with you.

Having a blog provides your brand with the opportunity to be transparent and vulnerable — qualities your audience would love to engage with.

Additionally, blogging in 2021 is a great platform for your business to share knowledge with your target audience about recent developments in your industry, insights, and predictions in your niche, as well as offer detailed product reviews.

Consistently publishing high-quality blog content will help you to assert your authority as a subject matter expert and industry leader.

Then it becomes easy to build confidence and trust in your brand.

Like I mentioned earlier, a reader who interacts with your blog often, naturally trusts you because they have a relationship with you. 

This is part of what we call an inbound strategy.

First, you create and build trust with your prospects before selling them on your services or products.

Industry Example: Airbnb

The above image is from Airbnb’s blog page. It connects readers with destination reviews and guest experiences.

The first thing that comes to mind when you’re searching for budget vacations is Airbnb.

Ever wondered why startups such as Airbnb and Uber are thought-provokers and industry leaders? They blog. Simple.

5. Blogging Helps You to Rank Higher in Search Engine Results

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is not just about ranking on Google when it comes to content marketing. It’s more of a long-term strategy to make your brand visible while staying ahead of your competitors in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

There are several ways to achieve that, but as you know this article is all about blogging so we’ll keep focused on that

Creating engaging blog posts around keywords that your audience is searching for is a great way to ensure you’re only producing and publishing relevant and quality content. 

So when search engine algorithms crawl the web, they notice that your blog has used popular keywords numerous times.

As a consequence of its relevance, they influence your brand to be ranked higher on the search results page.

Industry Example: Health brands

Health-related businesses are a perfect example.

Have you ever Googled “how to lose weight?”. You’d probably come across something similar to this.

Blogging regularly using the keywords “how to lose weight” and variations of that search term will increase your blog’s visibility on Google.

Eventually, it will rank content with those keywords higher in search results.

This content marketing technique is the perfect way to increase your brand’s search engine ranking.

Businesses that blog are said to receive 67% more leads every month, than brands that don’t.

6. Blogs Generate Backlinks

Inbound links are links on other websites’ pages that link back to your web page. 

As much as it’s a super cool SEO content marketing tool, it has its place in blogging too.

As we mentioned earlier, blogging allows you to provide value to your customers by sharing tips and other relevant industry or product information.

The higher the quality of these blog posts, the higher the chances of being picked up by other blogs or websites.

When many websites link to your content, this acts as a strong recommendation to Google.

Basically, just like any product or service that is recommended by more people, the more others want to use or experience it.

So these backlinks (digital recommendations) help to improve your domain authority and search engine ranking – and who doesn’t want that?

Is Blogging Dead in 2021?

No, blogging isn’t dead.

…And it won’t be dying in the coming decade either.

I must be quick to mention that as much as blogging isn’t dead, the manner in which blog posts are consumed has rapidly been changing. This is why it’s important bloggers and content marketers constantly adapt to new content marketing strategies and business models.

Blogging in 2021 and Beyond

So here’s the status of blogging today.

• There are over 1.7 billion websites on the internet today. And it’s estimated that over 600 million of them have blogs.
• People still love to read.
• Businesses are relying on blogs more than ever before as a form of content marketing.

Plus, 4 tips to help you win with blogging as a content marketing strategy in 2021:

• Ensure that your blog design is mobile responsive.
• Create content that showcases your authority in your industry.
• Provide content that is clear, valuable, and relatable to your target audience.
• Grow your relationship with your readers by engaging with them and responding to their questions and comments.

It’s Time to Start Your Business Blog

We’ve just looked at 6 ways blogging in 2021 can improve your content marketing.

Hopefully, you’re more than inspired to begin or revamp your business blog.

Blogging is a relatively inexpensive and simple way to improve your content marketing efforts, attract more customers, generate backlinks, increase lead conversions, assert yourself as an authority in your industry, increase brand visibility and boost your search engine ranking.

So is blogging worth your time and effort? YES.

Yet, it’s important that you examine your brand identity and how the blog will contribute to your current content marketing goals before starting a blog.

If you’re still unsure of where to begin, consider seeking professional help to handle the stresses of creating content for your blog.

That’s where I come in.

My name’s Simone. 

 

For 20 years, I’ve been creating compelling content and marketing for entrepreneurs, big and small businesses.

 

I’ll help you turn your traffic into loyal customers and return visitors. As well as create valuable content your audience will love!

 

Let me show you how to manage it effectively, create authority, and generate leads.

 

I have also created courses and resources to aid you in this journey. No need to fly blind anymore!

In our upcoming blogs and videos, I’ll be answering most of the questions you might have about blogging as a form of content marketing. We’ll be looking at but not limited to:

• The best blogging tools
• The best blogging platforms and what to look out for
• How to start a blog
• The best niche for blogging in 2021
• How long should blog posts be for SEO?
• How do bloggers use content marketing?

So be sure to keep your eye on this so that you don’t miss out on all this juicy stuff. Cool?

 

In the meantime, I’d like to know from you—what are the ways blogging has improved your content marketing efforts? Are there any that you think I have missed out on? I’d love to hear from you.

 

Also, if you have any questions, please feel free to shoot.

 

As always, thank you for dropping by, for reading my blog posts, and for subscribing to my YouTube channel. Thank you too for watching my videos. I feel the love. 

 

I bet I’ll be seeing you at the next one — yes?

 

Best of luck and happy blogging!