This post was originally published on 9 September 2015 and updated on 26 October 2018. 

For those of you who haven't come across the term before, a "Blog" is a section of a website that is updated regularly with content designed to help/entertain/educate your audience. In fact, you're reading a blog right now!

When used correctly, a blog can be a great marketing tool for your business. Here are just a few benefits you might expect to see:

1. A blog will help increase traffic to your website

A website that ranks highly in a search engine (like Google, Bing or Yahoo) is naturally going to have more people visit.

There are many different factors that a search engine will look at when deciding what website to list first. The frequency in which a page is updated is one of those factors. A website that is regularly maintained will be viewed by a search engine as being "current" and therefore more useful to the searcher. In contrast, a website that hasn't been updated for years may have been abandoned and therefore is no longer useful to the searcher.

One key way of helping your website perform well is to continually provide new content for your visitors. Having a blog and committing to writing new posts on a regular schedule makes sure you do this. So ultimately your blog will help increase traffic to your website and therefore the potential for more sales.

2. A blog will help you help your clients (which then helps you!)

Stuck on topic ideas to blog about? How about business solutions and problem-solving tips for your clients? Providing information that is both useful and valuable to your clients establishes you as an industry expert and the ‘go to’ team when your client needs help. This will increase your client’s loyalty to your business.

3. A blog helps to drive your marketing activities

A blog is a great way to promote other marketing activities currently underway in your business. Do you have an upcoming sale or event you want people to know about? Share it on your blog.

Another benefit of a blog post is that it can easily be shared in an eNews or social media post. The easier it is to share information, the further it can spread. The further it can be spread, the more people will learn about your brand and your product or service offering.

4. A blog can help you build your client database

A blog is also a useful way of collecting contact details of potential customers and clients who want to know more about your business. You can do this by adding a "subscribe" form so interested visitors can opt-in to receive your blog articles direct to their inbox. An active blog with relevant information and a bit of personality will mean that people are happy to subscribe.

For more details on how to keep in touch with potential clients this way, visit our article about the Benefits of Sending eNewsletters.

5. Build trust and create relationships

A blog will be effective in building trust in your brand if it's written in everyday language and provides a clear benefit to the reader. It humanises your business and allows you to form a community around your posts.

Hopefully, after reading these 5 reasons you are ready to start your own blog - if you are then you will find this article about how to come up with blog topic ideas useful.