Blogging is often presented as a thing you need to do if you’re running a business online. It’s just another part of your content marketing plan. Or just another part of your website you need to make. And to be fair, it can be a lot of work.
When we asked professional bloggers about their biggest barrier to starting a new blog, 36% indicated that coming up with new blog content ideas was their toughest hurdle. Following closely behind, 34% reported that time was their biggest obstacle. Rounding out the stats were costs and the technical setup of a blog at 16% and 14%, respectively.
Even though launching a blog does come with challenges, it does bring a wide range of blogging benefits that you may not have considered yet. Beyond just the “I have to,” sentiment. Let’s explore the biggest benefits here today.
1. Establish a Brand
Creating a blog is a fantastic way to build a brand for your business online – even more so than a static website. Yes, your branding choices will carry over throughout your online presence, too, but your blog is the place where you can consistently showcase what you’re about – from color and font choices to style and tone.
HubSpot offers a great example of a blog with a defined brand:
Those in the marketing and web industries could recognize the design of the “o” in their logo anywhere, and the orange and gray color palette used throughout their website and online marketing materials are consistent and recognizable parts of their online identity.
2. Build Your Authority with Business Blogging
Another benefit of having a successful blog is that it gives you a chance to build authority in your chosen niche and become an industry leader. First, it allows you to build a name for yourself in your industry as a leading voice or industry expert and sets you apart from other business owners. If your content is high-quality and you are consistent in your publication schedule, visitors will return to get the latest from you.
But it also allows you to build authority with search engines like Google. That is, the more valuable content you produce (and the more other websites link to yours), the higher your domain authority will be. Even though domain authority isn’t an official ranking factor, knowing what yours is and striving to improve it can give your blog a leg up.
You can get a sense of where your blog currently stands by using a domain or website authority checker like the one offered by Ahrefs:
3. Demonstrate Expertise and Share Knowledge
Writing blog articles regularly also provides an opportunity to share the knowledge you’ve accumulated over the years in your area of expertise. It provides a unified place to jot down your thoughts and tangibly collect them in the form of long-form articles, expert tips, and so forth.
4. Improve Your Writing Skills with Each Blog Post
Another reason to start blogging on a regular basis is that you can greatly improve your writing in the process. When you write blog posts consistently, it means you’re putting pen to the proverbial page regularly. Over time, you’ll find your writing will become more clear, concise, and filled with your unique and approachable voice. Leveraging available tools like Grammarly is super helpful in this regard, too.
Not to mention, you’ll get faster at it, too. When we surveyed professional bloggers about how long it took them to write a blog post (from concept to publication), the results indicated blogging was a time-consuming process for most, with 38% saying a single post took between 2-4 hours. Moreover, 29% said a blog post took 4-8 hours to put together.
Showing up consistently to craft fresh content can help alleviate some of this struggle.
5. Build an Audience
Blogging also can help you build an audience. Not just in terms of website traffic but also in terms of a dedicated following – the sort of folks that will follow you on every social media platform and have a genuine interest in what you have to say on a subject because you’re so consistent in posting relevant content.
6. Fulfill SEO Needs and Boost Rank in Search Engines
One of the more obvious advantages of blogs is their role in SEO. Search engine optimization is an essential part of having a website, and a blog can act as an ideal way to ensure your site is always flush with new content. It also gives you plenty of opportunities to net those coveted backlinks that are so key for building website authority and boosting your placement in the SERPs, and getting more traffic via organic search.
7. Further Your Education
Blogging is a great way to further your own education, too. If you have a personal interest in a topic, you can create a blog about it as you document your journey. Not every blog needs to be monetized or be created for a business purpose. Sometimes the pursuit of knowledge is enough – and other people can come along for the ride.
8. Sell Products or Services
You could use your blog as a vehicle for selling products or services, too. Again, it can serve as a way to showcase your expertise, and if you offer a product or service that’s a result of that expertise, your blog is like a dynamic portfolio. Blogging is a great Shopify marketing tactic.
A lot of respondents to our survey make money online in this fashion, with 19% earning blog income through selling services and 15% from selling products.
9. Generate Affiliate Revenue
Having a blog also serves as a great platform for becoming an affiliate. 18% of our survey respondents said they make their primary blog income through affiliate marketing.
10. Sell eBooks or Courses
Another benefit of having your own blog is that, over time, you’ll amass a larger number of words on your topic of choice. This is a great opportunity to collect those words into a larger volume, like an organized eBook or other digital products. Or, you can even expand upon principles covered in your blog posts in a larger, more in-depth online course. The added benefit here is that you can make use of your content twice.
11. Engage in a Community
Creating your own blog gives you the chance to build and engage in a community as well. This can extend in any number of ways, from adding a forum to your site using a plugin like bbPress or simply chatting with familiar faces in the comments. Community building in this way can often spill over onto social media, too. The point is that when it comes to creating a blog, you get out of it what you put in.
12. Become “Top-of-Mind” to Others
Another added perk of blogging and gaining a following is that you will swiftly become “top-of-mind” to people in your industry. That is, you’ll gain a reputation as an expert in your field. And people will come to you with their questions and opportunities.
13. Book Speaking Engagements
Running a blog that becomes successful opens you up to a whole new world of opportunities, like speaking engagements. Industry conventions are always looking for talented and insightful speakers in a given field, and if your blog (and you) gain a reputation as being a go-to authority, the speaking gig offers should start rolling in.
FAQs
You Can Realize Your Blogs Benefits Now
The best part of all is it’s pretty easy to start a blog. You just need the drive to make it happen. Hopefully, these benefits have inspired you to commit.
