Blogs have come a long way since they started in the 90s. Back then, when the internet was in its childhood, a blog was essential, a personal diary that people kept online. The word blog comes from “weblog”. People would talk about daily life and what they were up to in a blog, but then people began to see what blogging could become—a new way to communicate information online.
Fast-forward nearly 30 years or so, and blogging has taken off in a way that nobody would’ve predicted when Nirvana were still in the charts. Today there are more than 570 million blogs on the web.
The Definition of a Blog
We’re covering the very basics here, so we’ll start off with a definition.
A blog is a website or webpage that is regularly updated. They’re usually run by an individual, small group and usually written in a fairly informal way.
But that doesn’t cover half of what a blog is or what it can be.
Types of Blogs
Maybe without realising it, you’ve probably read hundreds of blogs in the past. They are absolutely everywhere. Whatever it is you’re searching for, there’s bound to be a blog about it. You’ve got food blogs, fashion blogs, football blogs, and that’s just a few that begin with F.
There are some pretty common forms of blogs that you’ll be familiar with:
- Lists
- How-To Guides
- Checklists or Cheat Sheets
- Infographics
- Interviews
- Journalistic Articles
- Case Studies
- Personal Stories
As you can see, there are plenty of options when it comes to writing a blog. You can write about any topic and in pretty much any way you fancy.
What a Blog Can Do
A blog is no longer just the musings of a few people on the internet, it’s a powerful marketing tool, and a ton of businesses use blogs because of that. If done correctly, a blog has a whole bunch of benefits that can help a business grow.
Smash SEO Efforts
The big search engines absolutely love fresh and relevant content, and blogging is the perfect way to produce inexpensive content. When you write a fresh blog post, Google and the other search engines will index it.
If you’ve done your keyword research and the blog is well-written, you might even rank on the first results page, which’ll help draw people to your website. The difficulty is keeping them on the page, and for that, you need it to be a good blog.
Get People to Connect with Your Brand
There’s a massive difference between having a blog and having a good blog, and more often than not, it’s the writing that makes the difference.
If you’ve got a well-written, informative and engaging blog post, then you’ll keep the reader on the page and possibly convert them into a customer. If it’s badly written, then they’ll click off within seconds (which is terrible for your bounce rate).
If you create content that people enjoy and has a genuine voice, then they’re bound to remember your brand, recommend it to friends and possibly share the article. All of that will do wonders in getting people to your website.
Show You Know Your Sh*t
Whatever it is your business does, you’ll have competition, and with everything online nowadays, you can’t win over customers with a smile. But you can win them over with a bit of charm and showing them that you’re an expert at what you do.
Blogs are perfect ways to show customers that you’re an expert in your field. It doesn’t matter how big your company is, a regularly updated, informative and engaging blog is a perfect way for any business to establish clout in their industry.
You can become their go-to source of information in your field, and usually, that means they’ll become a customer.
Need a hand with your blog? Get in touch with Mojo Content.
