Online marketing is constantly shifting and evolving. We often reach a point where we start to wonder which strategies are still relevant, and which should be discontinued. There is no doubt that social media continues to be essential in the online marketing world, but what about more traditional content such as blogging? This week we will take a look at blogging and why it continues to be a relevant and effective strategy in 2022.
Blogs Build Trust
Your website can be viewed as a central hub for your most valuable and detailed content. Blogs are an excellent way to provide reliable and trustworthy information to your audience and to build upon this database of content.
When you create blog posts, the goal is not to sell a product or service, but rather to display your expertise on a specific product or your industry. Social media posts are generally short because when people are on social media, they are skimming, and you have a narrow window of opportunity to grab their attention.
On the other hand, if a viewer has made it to your website to read a blog post, you have their attention, and they are willing to dedicate more time to hear what you have to say.
This is your chance to provide information and advice, and to prove that you are an expert in your field. If your website is filled with this type of information, it will be a go-to source of information for clients and prospects. Avoid trying to sell products and services in your blog post. If potential clients see this, they may think you are no longer looking to provide information and are simply trying to sell them something.
Blogging Provides Shareable Content
There is no doubt that social media is near the top of the priority list when it comes to digital marketing efforts. Billions of users are active across social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. To increase your following and overall reach, you should focus on developing shareworthy content.
Blog posts are exactly that. When you post an informative blog post on social media, it has a high likelihood of being shared or reposted by followers. Viewers who have friends or family that may benefit from your content will often share it. Other mortgage, real estate, and insurance professionals may also want to share your blog posts.
Blog Posts Increase Engagement
Quality blog posts can often begin conversations and increase engagement with customers. When a viewer reads your blog post and they find it helpful and informative, they may want to find out more on the topic. They will reach out with questions, either posting them on social media or contacting you directly.
Social media is all about connecting with others. When someone comments on a blog post you have shared, this can often spark a conversation that many others will join in on. As the conversation grows, you can gain followers as other individuals begin to see your expertise and the value that you offer.
These engaging conversations can also help to cultivate relationships with potential referral partners. Other industry professionals want to partner with someone who knows what they are doing and who will make them look good as well. A referral partner can see how you are engaging with customers and use that to get an understanding of the type of service you provide. If you are actively helping clients and answering their questions, they will see that you are attentive and that you provide excellent service.
Blogs Promote SEO and Site Visibility
You have likely heard the phrase that content is king when it comes to search engine optimization. Content that you post on your website gets scanned and indexed by search engines regularly. To keep things simple, if you do not make any updates or additions to your site, search engines won’t find any reason to reevaluate it. You are likely to not see much improvement in search ranking if your content remains unchanged.
A blog can significantly improve your search ranking when updated regularly.
Blog posts are an excellent way to add new content to your site on a regular basis. Each post that is added needs to be scanned and indexed by search engines. As your site continues to be scanned, the search engines will notice that you are constantly adding valuable information to your site which in turn will hopefully result in a higher ranking. You will often find popular blogs near the top of search results for this very reason.
It is important to focus on quality over quantity though. Search engines evaluate a website on countless factors. At one point you may have been able to get away with cramming as much content onto the site as possible and seeing your ranking increase. However, these days, the shift is toward the overall user experience. Search engines will know if you are filling your site with content that is written to boost search rankings, or if you are genuinely providing quality content for your viewers.
Blogging continues to be a valuable component of any online marketing strategy. There will always be a need for valuable information and content on mortgage and insurance products. If you haven’t started blogging, consider giving it a shot. Even if you can only post once per month, or even less, a few posts are going to be more beneficial than not posting at all. As always, if you have any questions about how to go about starting a blog, or ramping up your blogging frequency, the team of marketing specialists at 220 Marketing are here to help!
