Whether you devour blog content daily or believe blogs are so 2005, the reality is that they’re an important part of running a business in this increasingly digital world. This has always been true, but even more so now: People are addicted to new content. They crave it, they binge it, and then they want more.

If that’s not enough to convince you to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard in this case), here are a few more reasons why you should be blogging for your business:

SEO, A.K.A. The Alphabet of Internet Visibility

You’ve probably heard the term “SEO” and maybe even have some idea that it’s an important marketing tool. But what is it, really? The term stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it’s just a fancy way of saying “making your website easy to find on the Internet.” 

The key to good SEO is figuring out keywords that you can strategically place around your site, which search engines like Google will pick up on. When potential customers look up those keywords, the search engines will know to include your website in the results.

This is a very simplified way of looking at SEO, which involves more strategy than just padding your blog with keywords. I’ll elaborate more in an upcoming Click and Repeat post with SEO tricks you can use to boost your search engine rankings. For now, just know that using these keywords in blog posts is an easy way to get your website in front of as many eyes as possible.

Sharing is Caring

At this point, you’re probably very familiar with viral content: memes, Tik Toks, and what seems like a never-ending carousel of data and information being shared and re-shared on social media. 

Why is this relevant to blogging? Because, as a business owner, it benefits you to create viral content.

While creating memes might not be your strong suit (or maybe it is, in which case please share all the funny dog memes!), anyone can create unique content that’s shareable. By promoting posts with valuable and/or personalized information on your website, you’re getting your audience to engage with your business by: 

1. Having a personal investment in your story, and 
2. Giving them content they can easily share with their friends and family.

Blogging can also help fuel your own social media strategy: By building your own content, you automatically have items to share on social media and won’t be scrambling to figure out what to Tweet next.

Think of blogging as an investment in advertising for your business, which is always a good thing.

Generate Your Dream Client

All right, so you’ve created blog posts with good SEO, gotten them in front of a lot of eyes because they’re being shared on social media, and… Now what?

It’s time to use your messaging to attract the kind of clients who you want to work with! Potential customers who are regularly reading your blog are already partially converted to your way of thinking, meaning you’ll experience better client compliance once they choose to hire you. You’re also establishing trust by giving future clients a low-barrier way to learn more about you without having to commit.

For current and past clients, new blog content will keep them engaged with what you’re doing, give them important updates about your business, and keep you on their minds by creating regular reminders that say “HEY! I’M HERE FOR YOU!”

When they’re ready to hire a dog trainer again or need to give someone a recommendation, guess who they’ll think of first?

How to Get Started

As a business owner, blogging is the easiest way to get new content in front of your target audience. You might roll your eyes at the thought of “easily” producing blog posts — and it’s true that blogging takes some time and work! — but with a list of ideas and a good writing schedule, it’s a worthy investment in expanding the reach of your business. 

If you’re terrified of writer’s block (who isn’t?), we’ve got you covered here and here with some freebie ideas for blog posts. As for your writing schedule? That’s where November Dog Trainer NaNoWriMo comes in.

While most writers will recognize the name as an annual project to make progress on a novel (or “National Novel Writing Month”), we’ve put a business spin on it and are tackling 30 days of blog post writing. If you write an article a day and plan to post an article a week on your website, that gets you more than halfway through 2021!

And then it’s just a matter of planning when to post them; if your website allows for scheduling posts (hint: it probably does), you can get most of next year’s blogging done before 2020 is even over.

Then your biggest problem will just be figuring out what to do with all that free time.