Blog marketing, or blogging, is a popular way to attract potential customers by publishing valuable and exciting content on your website.
At first, blogs were considered online journals where people talked about their personal life and interests. Today, blogs are written on more sophisticated topics such as business, politics, news, music, food, parenting, etc. The number of blogs has increased since online readers have shot up.
It’s fascinating how the blogging world has grown and transformed since 1990. “Weblogs” or “blogs” started as casual informative resources and have become the most widely used educating platforms to market and steadily grow businesses.
If done right, blog marketing can bring outstanding results. But before we get into that, let’s define blog marketing, how it’s done, and the advantages and disadvantages of blog marketing.
Table of Contents
What is Blog Marketing?
Blog marketing is reaching your target audience through a blog to get their attention to your business, brand, or service. Entrepreneurs using blogs to market their products will devise creative ways to attract readers, such as writing posts on trending topics, catchy graphics, high-definition videos, and recordings.
In the past, businesses had a separate blog from their website. A company had to establish itself first before running a blog. In recent times the scenarios have changed due to technology and worldwide connectivity. Today it’s recommended to have a business website and blog on the same hosting.
All businesses are encouraged to have a blog because people want to learn and take advice from the best. For example, a clothing e-commerce website will have an integrated blog to educate its audience on trends and fashion.
Blogging itself has become a business. Bloggers market themselves by educating upcoming bloggers. These blogs might have links directing readers to their digital products, such as affiliate links, courses, and consultations.
How to Do Blog Marketing Properly?
Starting a blog is easy, but managing and marketing it to stand out is the tricky part where people need help.
- Plan Your Blog. Come up with a plan. What will your blog be about (music, food, travel, etc.), what topics and subtopics will you write on, and how frequently will you share the posts, for example, daily, weekly, biweekly, etc.?
- Create Your Blog. You can create your blog on any platform using two options. You can create a blog different from your business website or have both on the same platform. Suppose you choose the latter option; using the same logo for brand uniformity is highly recommended. Although it isn’t recommended to use free blogging platform, in case you do, make sure to have the same domain name as your website, making it easy for the readers to navigate to your website.
- Publish Several Posts. Customers prefer to visit blogs that are full of different informational topics. At first, try to get at least ten posts on your blog; later, you can stick to a posting schedule.
- Market Your Blog. The third step is to market your blog. With social media, reaching out to your audience has become easy. Every time you post a blog, leave a link for your followers.
- Reply to Comments. Connect with your audience by replying to their concerns and queries genuinely. A blog is a two-way communication. People will ask questions expecting an answer and give feedback and opinions.
- Encourage Email Signups. Encourage people to sign up for your email list. It’s a great channel and way to share information with your customers and built rapport. Signups also make selling easy to a warm audience.
- Show Yourself. Tell about yourself. Let people know who you are and what your expertise is. Being open to your audience shows a trustworthy side of your business. People like to support enterprises they know and feel good about buying from them.
Advantages of Blog Marketing
Blogging itself is a popular activity making blog marketing even better. Blog marketing has many advantages. A few are mentioned below.
It’s affordable
Blog marketing is a budget-friendly way to market your business. You’ll only have to invest in a domain name and hosting to start a blog. It’s much more affordable than running paid campaigns and ad posts. You or someone who can handle a blog only requires a little monetary investment.
Easy to do
Blogging platforms are easy to use. You don’t need professional training to create one. All you need to do is drag and drop to create an impressive-looking marketing blog. The internet is full of resources to learn to blog, or you can ask a professional to help initially.
Boosts website traffic
A blog with fresh content on your business website can improve traffic. Potential customers who visit your blog with the intention of reading can also check out your products. At the same time, your customers want to spend time on your website to read the new updated post.
Improves search engine ranking
Businesses have blogs with their websites to boost search engine ranking. Especially google ranks new and valuable content. Increased search engine ranking makes you visible on the first three pages of Google, making your products more accessible to the target audience.
Gains customers’ trust
A blog makes you look like an expert in your niche. For example, a baker who sells cakes online can share the baking process, tips, and resources with their customers. Customers buy from people who are transparent with their operations and like to share their knowledge.
Open revenue opportunities
Once your blog gets a little traction, there are multiple ways to earn revenue. Brands will contact you to sponsor a post, affiliate links to their products, or ask for an advertising spot on your website. It can increase your revenue in multiple folds in the long term. You can also get an advertising spot from sponsors in exchange for a sponsored post.
Modern engagement tool
Blog marketing is a modern communication tool to help you become an authority in your niche. Gone are the days when people required TV and banners for promotion.
Blog marketing is a perfect opportunity to prove your worth to your industry and competition. You can come across as an expert by posting about industry insights, trends, and technologies in your domain. Nonetheless, you’ll promote your brand showing your capability to keep up with the changing times.
Disadvantages of Blog Marketing
While blog marketing is excellent for promoting your brand and reaching your target audience, it has a few disadvantages. Some of the most prominent ones are as follows.
Time-consuming
Blog marketing can be time-consuming as it needs undivided attention until it gets exposure. You might have to work a few hours daily to see the results. But you can cut the time short by hiring writers and an assistant to help. However, it will increase your financial expenditures.
Quality content ideas
Blog marketing is all about high-quality content that is value-packed at the same time for your readers. Blogging won’t work for you if you post a few quality pieces. It’s an everyday or regular struggle. Your topics should be well-researched, trendy, and in demand.
Blog marketing takes time to see the results
You won’t see results with blog marketing in the short run. Building an audience and generating web traffic is time-consuming and requires constant effort.
Exposure to market your blog
Blog marketing requires marketing too. You will only get the exposure to promote your products or gain authority once people know about your blog.
Blog Marketing – Parting Thoughts
Finding ways to reach the right audience and influence them to read your blog would be best. If you have a solid social media presence, you can entice your followers to read and give feedback. Most importantly, if you can create content for your blogs on your own, then it is one of the cheapest ways to market your brand or business.
