Why Small Businesses Should Blog More

If you’ve got a small business and an Internet presence and you’re not already blogging, it can only be for one reason. You must be unaware of the terrific results and benefits that blogging brings to businesses all across the world.
In a recent study, over 1500 SMEs were polled as to whether they blogged or not. Roughly 50% said Yes, and 50% said No. But the results of the study were a complete no-brainer. The 50% that blogged received a brilliant 55% more visitors, a phenomenal 97% more inbound links and a whopping 434% more search engine indexed pages.
This means when a small business blogs, it gets impressive results. It gets more traffic, and this means more potential customers. It gets more links from other websites, which means SEO points all round. It gets its blog pages indexed, which means that there’s even more chance of getting found through a Search Engine.
So, if your business is writing blogs, there are more potential customers, better SEO and improved chances of being located through Google. But why else should small businesses blog more?
Credibility: How do potential customers know that they can trust you with their time and money? How can they trust that you can actually help them? Customers want a predictable experience, that is, they want the transaction to go smoothly. When buying services and products on the Internet, there is an essential lack of trust established between buyer and seller. A blog is a highly efficient way to show others that you have expert knowledge in your field. A potential customer can read up on you before they invest their time and trust in giving you their business. When they believe that they can have a ‘predictable’ experience from you, they’ll part with their money. By positioning yourself as an expert, you’ll carve out a valuable niche on the net too.
Instant Feedback: When you blog, you can get instant feedback on your thoughts, new ideas, and suggested improvements to your products and services. The people that buy your services can ask you questions in a public forum, which they know that you will answer publicly, again improving trust. What’s more, if you’re thinking of changing your product, write a blog about your ideas and let your customers tell you what they think of it.
Free Marketing: When visitors find something they like on your blog, they will bring other visitors to see it too. If they like something a lot, they may put a link to it on a social networking or social media site. This way, you get additional free publicity, all for the short time it took you to write a blog.
Be The One They Turn To: They say that people don’t come online to buy products; they come to find answers to problems. That’s why on blogs; we often give away lots and lots of free advice. It will increase your credibility; ensure that people return to you when they have another problem, all the time building their relationship and trust to you and your business. Marketing Legend Zig Ziglar once said ‘You can everything you want in life, if you just help enough people get what they want.’
Get In On The Game: If all your competitors are blogging and you aren’t, guess who looks like the slow coach? If your competitors are attracting lots of visitors and you aren’t, guess who’s missing out on potential income?
Greater Control: When you blog, you get to control the message of your business. You have total control over what people read about you. It isn’t a fancy PR company, it’s just you, speaking earnestly and honestly about the things you have an interest in and knowledge on.
Let’s recap this again. If you blog you get:

• More Visitors – Which means more potential income.
• More Inbound links – Which gives you an SEO boost.
• All Your Posts Get Indexed – Which increases your findability.
• Increase Your Credibility – Gain trust, build a following.
• Instant Feedback – Let Your Customers Help You.
• Free Marketing – Your followers pass on and post your blogs elsewhere.
• Be The One They Turn To – Solve the problem, be the solution.
• In On the Game– Don’t be the odd one out, don’t lose out on potential income.
• Greater Control – Send Your Message with Costly PR firms.

With all these benefits, it’s easy to see why so many small businesses that are blogging are receiving the lion’s share of Internet traffic and potential client revenue.
Now, why is it that you’re not blogging?