A key challenge that many small business owners face is being visible and getting discovered. If you have been struggling with driving traffic to your products and services and your social media content isn't really doing the trick, this article is for you. When I first launched our blog in September 2021, I did not expect that the Inspiration Blog Series would become an organic traffic generator and an income stream. I decided to create a blog because I love writing and also because I wanted our blog to serve as a platform where people can find tips from entrepreneurs and experts from fields such as business, spirituality and holistic well-being. Fast forward to today, our blog is not only monetised through sponsored partnerships and collaborations but it is also our biggest source of organic traffic. With the growing popularity of podcasts and video content, blogs can be often neglected by business owners. Yet, having a blog can bring enormous benefits to your business and in this article, I am going to share a few of them.

Organic traffic

One of the best perks of blogging regularly is organic traffic. When you post an article, the page is indexed by search engines like Google. You may be thinking what does this really mean? Well, every time your ideal clients and customers type in words related to your niche on Google, they can stumble upon your blog post if it has been optimised to contain the keywords relevant to your business. The more visitors the blog post gets, the higher it will rank on Google and more people will find your website (research shows that businesses that blog get 55% more website visitors). Articles that inspire, educate or provide information that is valuable to your audience can get re-shared too, which will further boost your visibility. I recommend posting articles at least twice a month. 

Brand positioning and differentiation

Writing blog posts is a great way to introduce your target audience to your mission, values and what your business is all about. You can share your story and what inspired you to found your business, hence adding a personal element to your brand. You can also use your blog to talk about your journey as a business owner and share "behind the scenes" content. This will help you develop a unique brand identity and differentiate your business from competitors. It will also help you create an emotional bond with your ideal clients and customers, and build a community around your brand. Don't forget - people buy from brands they know, like and trust. Through your blog, you can continuously convey your message and show your audience how your business brings the solutions they have been looking for. 

More Conversions

You can talk about your products and services in your blog articles and drive conversions. Even if you choose not to include promotional content but focus on solving a problem, educating your audience or sharing personal experiences, this can still lead to more conversions because it helps you build trust with your readers. Some of the coaching clients I used to work with came to me because they had read an article on my blog. Once you have written and published a blog post, the content is live on the web and continues to attract clients organically without any effort on your side.  

Additional income 

Your blog can become an income stream. Depending on how many visitors your blog gets every month, you may be able to monetise it. The very first time a fellow coach reached out to me to propose a sponsored blog collaboration, I was in awe (my exact thoughts were: "someone wants to pay to be on my blog? wow!"). Nowadays, we collaborate with experts and businesses from different industries, introducing our community to their work and helping them reach more people. The blog continues to serve a dual purpose - to provide our readers with tips, exercises and inspirational content and to support small businesses by boosting their visibility. 

So, is blogging good for business?

In my opinion, having a blog should be part of every business' branding and content marketing strategy. Selecting the right topics for your blog, writing high-quality content and optimising your articles with your keywords will definitely pay off but it can be time-consuming. And, unless you enjoy writing as much as I do, you may be staring at an empty Word document for hours, waiting for the words to flow. My tip would be to plan the topics for your blog in advance (for instance, you can plan four topics for the month ahead) and allocate time in your diary every week to sit down and write the articles so that you are consistent. Once they are published and, as your views increase, your Google ranking will also improve.