Want to know why people blog? Not sure about the benefits of blogging? You’ve come to the right place!
In the early days of blogging, blogs were mostly used as a personal diary. They were a place you could store and share your thoughts and personal experiences. Much has changed over the years!
It’s estimated that in 2020, there were 31.7 million bloggers in the United States alone. Gone are the days when a blog was primarily used as an online journal. Today, millions of people from all over the world use blogs for commercial purposes.
Before we delve deeper into the topic, blogs can be divided into two broad categories:
1. Commercial Blogs
Commercial blogs have a financial benefit for the blogger. In a blogging context, the term “commercial” doesn’t necessarily mean a business blog. A blog that’s making money or intended to make money is a commercial blog. This includes, for example, an individual’s affiliate marketing blog.
2. Non-Commercial Blogs
Non-commercial blogs have no financial benefits. For example, an online journal to record and share a vacation. There’s no direct or indirect financial benefit for the blogger. Most of these blogs use a free blogging platform, such as WordPress.com or Blogger.com.
Both commercial and non-commercial blogs have benefits, but this article will mainly focus on the benefits you can expect from building a commercial blog.
Benefits of Blogging
Here are the top 10 benefits of blogging:
1. Build Brand Awareness
Building brand awareness isn’t reserved for famous brands and large businesses. It’s just as important to small business owners.
Let’s use Chanel as an example.
Chanel is known for many luxury goods such as jewelry, watches, and fragrances. A Chanel watch costs thousands of dollars. What would that watch be worth without the Chanel name on it? Whether the answer is $10 or $100, it would be worth a fraction of the price.
That’s the power a successful brand wields!
Blogging is a great way to build brand awareness and promote your brand.
As a business owner, you build your brand by offering relevant and useful content to your target audience.
NOTE: At BrandBuilders, we have extensive knowledge, expertise, and experience in helping entrepreneurs build strong brands. Want your business to be all it can be? Then book a FREE coaching call now and let’s explore how we can help you!
2. Complement Your Social Media
Nobody can deny the power and influence of social media. Social media and blogging go together like macaroni and cheese, soap and water, pen and paper.
According to these popular blogging statistics:
- 66.0% of marketers use blogs in their social media content.
- 95.9% of bloggers promote their blog posts via social media.
- 69.0% of bloggers use social share buttons.
Promote your content on social media and use platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to drive traffic to your blog. It can take your earnings to the next level.
3. Stay Ahead of Your Competitors
Many small business owners and entrepreneurs don’t understand the benefits of blogging. There are also many blogs that are totally underutilized.
A blog can be a powerful business tool for generating more traffic and earnings. If the people or businesses you’re competing against have a blog, you’re at a serious disadvantage if you don’t have one. And if you do have one, make sure yours is better than the others in your industry!
To stay ahead of your competitors, you need to use every marketing tool at your disposal. A blog should be the mouthpiece of your business. It’s the place where people go to learn more about who you are and how you can help them.
4. Inexpensive to Start
One of the things that makes blogging so attractive is that it’s not expensive to start a blog.
Here’s a quick summary of the steps and costs involved:
1. Domain Name – Can be registered with Namecheap for $8.88, payable annually.
2. Hosting – A StartUp plan at SiteGround currently costs $83.88, if paid annually.
3. Blogging Platform – Our recommended platform WordPress.org is free to install.
4. Blog Theme – There are many good WordPress themes that are free to download.
5. Plugins – Many of the best WordPress plugins have an adequate free version.
For less than $100, you can be in business and all set for the next 12 months!
There are certain products or services you may want to add once you start blogging, but they are not compulsory.
5. Get Free Leads and Customers for Your Business
A search engine optimized blog with great content can potentially get you thousands of leads and customers, for free!
This doesn’t happen overnight, though. It will require hard work and a strong commitment on your side for your blog to be successful. It can take 6 months to 12 months before you start seeing good results. However, it’s usually worth it if you put in the time!
Want to see proof? Here’s an example of just how much free traffic is worth.
Let’s assume you’re in the travel niche and want to promote travel bags as an Amazon affiliate. You will earn you a commission each time someone you referred to Amazon makes a purchase.
According to Ubersuggest, the keyword “travel bags” gets about 27,100 searches a month. If you want to advertise on Google, the average cost per click on the first page is $1.28.
Research by Backlinko indicates the #1 result in Google’s organic search results gets 31.70% of the clicks. Based on this, the #1 page ranking for travel bags should get about 8,590 clicks per month.
It would cost you $10,995 per month to get 8,590 clicks at an average cost per click of $1.28.
A keyword study by Ahrefs concluded that the average #1 ranking page will also rank in the top 10 for nearly 1,000 other relevant keywords.
Based on this, the #1 ranking page for travel bags may actually get a lot more than 8,590 clicks per month!
What if the #1 position is too difficult to achieve?
According to Backlinko, the #10 position on the first page gets about 3.09% of the clicks. The last site ranking on the first page of Google for travel bags should get about 837 clicks per month.
It would cost you $1,071 per month to get 837 clicks at an average cost per click of $1.28.
Paid traffic may get you faster results than free organic traffic, but it comes at a huge cost.
Ultimately, whether you want free organic traffic or are prepared to pay for traffic, having a blog works well for both.
TIP: Start building an email list as soon as you can.
Most people who find and read a blog post you wrote will never return to your blog. You need to capture those leads before they leave so you can contact them again in the future. Having a database of leads or prospects is an invaluable business asset.
Email subscribers are contacts you own and that you can reach out to at will. Just remember that people don’t like to be spammed. The emails you send to your list should not only be promotional emails. Provide value and build up a relationship with your target audience.
The service provider we recommend is ActiveCampaign.
ActiveCampaign is not a free service, but they are worth every cent they charge. It’s very easy to integrate them with your blog and they offer excellent support.
6. Low Barriers to Entry
Nearly anyone can start a blog. You don’t need any credentials or qualifications before you can become a blogger.
The barriers to entry are very low. There are some niches such as YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) that should be approached with caution. This doesn’t mean you can’t start a financial or health blog. It only means there are regulations to protect consumers.
For example, you can’t sell a concoction you fabricated in your kitchen as a cure for Covid-19 or any disease. It can land you in serious trouble with the FDA (U.S. Food & Drug Administration). You may also pick up problems with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) if they feel you’re breaking the law.
The only real barrier to entry is that it can be a steep learning curve to build a successful blog.
Some of the most important topics you need to know include:
– Keyword research
– Market & competitor research
– Search engine optimization
– Creating good blog content
– Content marketing
– Copywriting
– Monetization strategies
– How to get quality backlinks
A word of advice
Outsource whatever you can. See yourself as the owner of a new startup. Don’t try to do everything yourself. Focus on strategic matters. Don’t waste time on tasks that someone else can handle much faster and more efficiently than you can.
NOTE: At BrandBuilders, we specialize in helping entrepreneurs get up and running in the shortest possible time. Contact us or book a free coaching call now and let’s explore how we can help you to succeed.
7. You Can Do It Part-Time
One of the big benefits of blogging is the flexibility it offers you. You can spend as much or as little time on it as you wish. Whether you choose to work in the early morning hours or late at night doesn’t matter.
There aren’t many businesses that offer you this amount of flexibility! In addition, many businesses just couldn’t be run on a part-time basis.
Online marketing is an ideal part-time business that you can scale into a full-time income. Most people start out part-time, but are eventually able to turn blogging into a career.
The key thing to remember is that you get out what you put in. Don’t expect miracles if you’re only able to spend a couple of hours every week on your business.