Can content writing make you popular overnight?
Some companies boast that they have become stars overnight and that their blog posts have gone viral and caused a stir in the virtual world. Is this phenomenon plausible in the current digital world? Nicholas Cole, top writer from Quora and Medium, with over 50 million followers, says that this is not possible. His own popularity, he highlights, is due to hard graft. One needs to see the bigger picture and have long-term goals where content writing for engagement is concerned.
Thought leadership, is not a title won overnight, as Cole pointed out. The objective of blog writing is not vanity but exposure. There are also a few other salient points about blog writing worth looking at.
Better SEO
You have a 434% higher chance of being ranked highly on search engines if you feature a blog as part of your website.(Source: TechClient)
Better Lead Generation
Businesses using blogs as part of their content marketing mix get 67% more leads than those who don’t. (Source: Hubspot)
Ongoing Trend
52% of respondents on a recent content marketing survey agreed that blogging is their most important content marketing tactic. Other content marketing tactics are: email newsletters (40%), social media content (40%), then ebooks, in-person events, and webinars. Strangely enough, only 30% of respondents consider video to be vital. (Source: Hubspot)
Better Traffic
Blogging a lot while using the right keywords and writing relevant, useful content will boost website credibility and, consequently, will boost Google page ranking. Google sees your website content as important and valuable. This is SEO pure and simple. Visibility on Google Search Engine Results Pages (first and second pages are aimed for) will definitely improve your traffic i.e. number of online visitors to your site.
Even more traffic with more backlinks
Backlinks, or high quality links from other websites going back to your website will improve your traffic and will be looked upon favourably by Google. They will, once again, think that your site is worthy of attention. Your Alexa ranking (a measure of website popularity) will increase. All this is solid SEO and will influence your ranking on Google pages in a positive way. Companies who blog receive 97% more links to their site than those who don't. (Statistics: Hubspot)
Best way to convey in-depth material
When it comes to learning about a broad topic, people prefer blogs. Some people still prefer videos for learning purposes but most internet users out there trust blogs and feel that they can learn at their own pace by reading a blog post.
Excellent branding exercise
You show your company personality, ethos, voice through your blog. It's the human angle of your business, where you can influence your prospects on your likeability. It's a nurturing ground for your brand.
Online Customer Service
You can also explore your audience's issues and concerns in blog posts, providing solutions and compiling FAQs. You can start discussions with your readers by including an open comments section. This allows your audience to comment and give feedback on the blog posts themselves.
Social media and forum connections
For one, you can encourage your readers to share a post they like by adding social media share or email buttons.
The latest blog posts can also be added to your social media page. This process can be automated. You can enrich your followers' experience with engaging posts.
Forums are not to be ignored in this context either. If comment sections aren't a viable option, then linking to a forum enables peer-to-peer discussions on related topics.
On par with or better than advertising
Your blog functions as your advertising, only better. Most people use a company blog to find out more about that company.
Research also shows that some people are averse to internet banner ads. Blog writing is a more subtle way to reach out to those users.
Stand out from the competition
At the end of the day, it's what differentiates you from the competition. And that's a good thing for sure.
