Successful entrepreneurs have an online presence and this presence is key to their success. The first step to establishing an online presence is to start a blog. Even before social media accounts and guest posts, entrepreneurs need to have a voice and a story that they can spread to their customers and followers. A good blog might just be the difference between you and your competitors. A recent study showed that marketers that use blogs gain 67% more leads than their counterparts. That is a high number and one that make any entrepreneur start writing immediately. If you still need to be convinced, here are 6 reasons why every entrepreneur needs to have a blog:
- Social Media
For those that are wondering why social media isn’t the first step towards entrepreneurship, it’s simple – you can’t make a name for yourself by simply sharing other people’s content. If you create a social media account first, what will you share? Ideally, your first blog should be the first content that you reveal to your audience. Content curation only works as part of a combined strategy. Original content is bound to have a bigger impact on your audience and will encourage engagement.
- Your side of the story
Entrepreneurs can express everything from their missions, goals and background through your blog. While this isn’t for marketing purposes, it allows your followers or readers to connect with you and form a good relationship. Loyal readers are an entrepreneur’s best tool and act as a means of developing influence. You can portray your brand in the right image and maintain control of what your brand is associated with. Every entrepreneur has an unique idea or goal in mind when they start out, content to back up the goal/vision gives credit to your ideas.
- Engagement
As mentioned before, engagement is necessary to build relevant rapport with your audience. Blogs are great way to put your ideas out there and connect with people who think the same way. Many readers can be turned into potential customers through blogging as you have the opportunity to create suspense and hype up your product.
- Bounce off ideas
Ideas are a dime a dozen – everyone has an idea that they think is great and end up spending valuable resources before realizing that it was a mistake. A blog is a great way to find out what your customers like and don’t like before implementing new ideas and strategies. An idea that is widely supported by your audience is a good place to invest and develop. Blogs give you the opportunity of explaining your ideas in detail and then collecting feedback on it. Improvements and implementation can follow this stage.
- SEO
Search Engine Optimization is crucial for gaining organic customers and blogs are a great way to improve SEO. Google or Bing won’t automatically put you on top of search results, you have to work hard for it. Keywords in blog posts teaches search engines to associate your company/business with key search phrases related to your niche. Well written blogs are crucial while establishing your presence in the online world.
- Trust
A new customer that doesn’t trust your business will not enlist its services or use its products, unless ridiculous offers are made. Most entrepreneurs are in no shape to make crazy offers as they can’t afford it. Building trust, on the other hand, is more likely to drive them to a leap of faith. Entrepreneurs that post blogs with good information and insights can build a friendly rapport that eventually leads to trust. Even if a rapport is not present, being a valued source of information is enough to gain people’s trust.
Being an entrepreneur is in no way easy, it requires a lot of hard work and investment in terms of time and money. To become a successful entrepreneur, one has to do everything in their power to make their presence known and felt. Blogging offers the opportunity to do both along with giving them a chance to showcase their expertise. It is a valuable outlet that needs to be taken advantage of.
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