7 Reasons to Start a Company Blog (and 7 to not!)

Today, we’re writing a meta-blog!

We’re looking at the importance of having a business or company blog on your website, as well as in which instances it’s okay to not have one.

But first of all, what IS a blog?

Blogs started in the 90s when the internet was starting to boom and those with something to say wanted a space to publish their writings and put it out into the world.

Because of the subjective contents, they became known as not credible when looking for important information or facts, because there was nothing holding the authors accountable for what they wrote. A book, newspaper, or official news website, on the other hand, is a trusted source of information.

However, as Google and SEO adapted and developed, the good blogs stood out from the bad and some of those authors and websites grew in fame and became known as experts in their field.

Now, considering this trajectory of personal blogs, how do company blogs fair?

If you are selling a product or service, then you should be, to a certain degree, some kind of expert in your field. So you’re already one up from a personal blog. The only question that remains is should you or should you not start a company blog?

Reasons to run a company blog

  • The most technical benefit is that a regular blog can boost your SEO. The first way it does this is by putting out fresh, relevant content frequently. The second way is that if you do it properly, according to trending keywords and other SEO guidelines, your website can rank higher in the Google search results page (SERP).
  • It is a great way to drive visitors (or traffic) to your website. Yes, your website is there to sell a specific product or service, but for a potential client that doesn’t know that your business even exists, stumbling onto your blog because of a topic relevant to what they are searching for can lead them to your website. They might even like what they see and consider buying from you.
  • Similar to driving traffic to your site, if you have social media pages, regular blog posts give you something to post on social media that links back to your site. And posting on social media adds to customer engagement and brand awareness, too.
  • As mentioned earlier, you might be one up from a personal blogger, but you will still need to establish yourself as an authority on the topic which you write about. This builds trust, which is imperative if you want someone to buy into your brand, products and services.
  • If your blog is well-written, it can make certain niche topics (such as your products) interesting to a wider audience. So many products can be boring to anyone who doesn’t necessarily need them, but if it can be made relevant via your posts, you will have accessed a whole new market.
  • A blog allows you an extra space besides the Home page to keep your current and potential clients up to date with your business. With changes almost every fortnight owing to Covid-19, lockdown regulations, and the world in general, transparency is so valued. It is also a space to explain in more detail what your product or service pages cannot (as long as you make it more interesting and useful than those pages).
  • Based on the tone and voice you choose for your blog, it can truly humanise your company. The current consumer wants to work with a brand that they can trust and that makes them feel secure. And feeling like you’re just a number or that you’re up against a big corporation of robots does not help with this at all. A blog turns your company into a living, breathing thing.

Reasons you might not be ready for a company blog yet

  • You don’t know what to say or if you have enough to say to keep a regular blog going.
    • Solution: Have a brainstorming session to come up with possible topics that are both relevant to your brand and useful to a reader. Depending on the number of topics you come up with, see if you can fit it into a schedule for monthly blog posts for up to about 6 months. If it seems viable after that, you can then think about the next steps.
  • You can’t commit the time to writing a monthly blog.
    • Solution: Either write a bunch of blogs all at once when you do have time and schedule them a month apart, or outsource the writing process to someone else in the company who shows promise or to a company like Haystack! Digital Marketing Company that can not only write the blogs, but also keep it in line with SEO best practices.
  • You’re not a good writer or you’re not a careful writer (sloppy writing filled with errors can ruin a company’s credibility more than you know).
    • Solution: Similar to the above problem, either outsource the blog writing, or write to your heart’s content and give it to someone to proofread and edit (this is one of our in-house content specialist’s specialities!).
  • You don’t see a point in having a company blog or don’t have a specific goal or strategy for one.
    • Solution: Read the above reasons to start and run a company blog to see if it aligns with your business or chat to us about what your business goals are to find out if a blog is the answer for you – or if you need something more direct like PPC and other paid advertising methods.
  • You haven’t established your brand’s voice or tone.
    • Solution: Look at your corporate identity and do some company and branding introspection to settle on the right tone for your business. Remember, you can be professional and warm at the same time, and you can be fun and factual at the same time, too. If you don’t know where to begin, speak to a professional (hint hint!).
  • You don’t have social media pages on which to share the blog posts.
    • Solution: Either this is the nudge you needed to start a Facebook or Instagram page, or you could look at creating an email list or newsletter to distribute your blog to your clients instead.
  • You want your blog to only talk about your company, i.e. you’re going to say all the wrong things.
    • Solution: An overload of information or jargon that talks exclusively about your products or services or is constantly and explicitly trying to sell you something is never the approach to take. Blogs are supposed to be helpful and useful to the reader, so if the information you are serving up does not serve them, you need to re-evaluate your motives or do some keyword research to find out what your reader is really looking for.

A blog is a useful tool for any company that is trying to move with the times and create brand awareness – just so long as it is done well.

Have a look at our blog page for some inspiration, or at some of the company blogs that we are very proud to write:

Chat to us to find out how our SEO and content specialist can help put your company on the map.  

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