Blogging used to be synonymous with virtual diaries and Tumblr photo feeds.

Businesses were better off focusing on making their websites and managing their social media presences, because really, what good could a few well-written blog posts do for sales?

A lot, as it turns out.

Blogging drives over potential customers and gives you multiple opportunities to sway them to convert. It’s one of the most effective marketing tools, helping you spotlight your ideas and foster a connection with your audience.

Need a little more persuasion? Here are eight reasons why every business needs a blog.

1. Drive traffic to your website

There are really only a few ways that someone can land on your website.

They can Google your name or write it into their browsers, but that means they’re already in your tribe. Which is great, but what about when you want to draw in some new clicks?

Advertising is effective – if you have the money, that is – and even then, you need one hell of a copywriter to make your ads worth clicking on. And then you need a good landing page. High-quality call to actions. An offer worth investing in. You know how it goes.

A blog, however, drives traffic over without anyone even realizing they’re being summoned.

That’s because they don’t need to search for you, they just need to search for what you’re writing about. Evergreen topics, currents events, shifts in the industry ­– communicable ideas that aren’t necessarily branded under your domain.

Say you run a digital marketing agency, and someone is looking up email marketing mistakes that they should avoid. They land on an article that you wrote, and suddenly you’ve unveiled yourself from trenches of anonymity.

The more blog posts you write, the more potential you have for exposure. Google indexes every blog post for multiple keywords and phrases, increasing the amount of highways that can lead from a search result to you.

2. Gain authority

The core of content marketing rests in this very tenant: a blog that’s dripping with so much information that an automatic side effect is an audience enraptured and a reputation established.

Blogs let you maintain an enormous library that speaks of your expertise. No matter your field, there’s so many different topics that you can discuss – be it at the surface level or in a deeper context. After all, you’ve spent years exploring and absorbing facts about your industry. Who better to recite them to the internet than you?

The more you have to say about a topic, the more you’re gaining authority and establishing trust within your audience. Once you have that, you’ll find that people want to turn to you for things beyond information. Now, they mean business.

After all, if the digital marketing advice you’re giving is helpful and informative, then your audience knows they can trust you with their money if they make the decision to let someone else take over their marketing efforts for them.

A successful blog also cements habits in your followers to look up your name when they’re searching for new information. Important, because that reputation sets you apart from your competition in ways that translate to more than just money. Never mind the potential for them to become that authority instead of you because you lack a blog.

When you search into your knowledge and practice effectively communicating it, you stand out in your field, gain trust, and ultimately, even if it’s slowly, convince people to convert.

3. Solidify your brand image and send out updates

Let’s talk PR for a second.

Every single move your company makes is an overall reflection of your brand. Every Tweet, Facebook comment, video, ad, typo, technological glitch and color palette is a wire that connects to create your overall brand image. Big or small, it says a lot about you – even if at face-level it’s not saying anything at all.

Building a blog gives you a more direct outlet to foster your persona.

The values your brand possesses, the causes you care about, the interests you have, all of these are evident in the type of content you produce online.

You can take this to heart and send a message that’s captures what you believe in and want to represent.

A blog also gives you the platform to post your own press releases and to announce any company initiatives. If you already have a loyal following, then writing about any new products and features on your blog is a great way to directly reach them, instead of scouring the internet for journalists willing to write about you.

The voice you’ve developed throughout your website can come alive through your blog, again distinguishing you from your competitors.

4. Increase your SEO

 Search Engine Optimization, while broad and intricate and not always fully understood, comes down to one main thing: content.

You need articles. You need images in those articles. Maybe even videos if you’re looking to add more dimension. That how you form the foundation of a powerful SEO presence.

Content in its written form should employ specific keywords that link up to search terms. Image captions and alt-text can also utilize those keywords to rank higher.

When you have a blog with a wide reach, you can rank higher in search engines. Every time your posts are clicked on, read, shared and ultimately engaged with, it’s essentially a direct notification to Google that your website should be ranked higher.

You’re also sending search engines a message that your website is active, outlining it from debunked graveyard domains.

A strong search engine strategy is important because it lets you do the work once and continuously reap the benefits.

You can sleep, eat and travel and still get active readers because of your website’s high rank on Google.

5. Breeds innovation

The more you dig into your field, the more ideas you develop and the more potential you have to grow.

Think about it: all that time researching and writing relevant content encourages you to think about them from new perspectives.

You’ll get innovative, naturally.

The world becomes your inspiration. You start discussing ideas with your coworkers and friends, listening to speeches, watching movies, and absorbing knowledge that not only makes your blog posts shine, but your business tactics as well.

You can even go so far as to modify and grow certain features of your companies, invent a new product, or even develop an entirely new startup.

You’ll also naturally stay ahead of the curve, because a successful blog demands a relevant knowledge of the latest news and trends. You can inevitably become a leader in your industry.

6. Forms a community around your content

Blogging creates a new channel for communicating with your audience.

You’re giving them space in the comments to give feedback, add their own perspectives and tell you what exactly they want you to write about next.

In return, you can give them direct advice and answer their questions beyond the templates crafted in your FAQ.

This is important: by this flow of ideas, you’re creating a community with your customers and showing them you value their role in it.

When you promote your posts on social media, you’re getting another chance to gain insight from your readers from their comments.

7. Lead generation

One of the benefits of a blog is the ability it gives you to sprinkle in well-placed call to actions (CTAs) and subtle hints of self-promotion.

Every blog post includes a sequence of lead magnets that combine to create the ultimate choreography.

Blogs let you add in plugins for lead capture forms that pop up either in the beginning, middle, or end of a post. You can also use them for content upgrades, which is a growth hack that only lets people see the full version of your article once they enter in their email address.

You can also lace your pages with a link to your landing pages at the end, a similar one for Wuilt which you’ll find at the bottom of this page.

Your CTAs can range from anything from a free e-book, trial, webinar or survey. Essentially, they should be anything interesting enough to incite a person to trade in their information.

If your blog is compelling enough, you can inspire people to seek out more information and sign up for your newsletters, which gives you another option to lead people to your landing pages and update them of any new business developments.

8. Serve you on social media

Instead of hiring a social media manager for the sole purpose of crafting content, you can take advantage of your blog posts by sharing them on all your platforms.

Your blogs give you a steady stream of content to go back to when your posts have gone stale and your activity dry.

More than that, blog posts can actually help you get found through social media. If your post is engaging enough, you can encourage someone to share it with their followers, directing attention and traffic back to you. It’s free publicity at its finest.

Takeaway:

• Blogs helps establish your business’ credibility and drive over new customers
• A blog with a wide reach allows your website to rank higher on search engines
• You can use your blog to send out product updates
• Researching and writing blog content lets you dig into your field and fuels innovation
• Blogs supply you with social media content and let you form a community around your brand