Benefits of Blogging
Blogging can vastly improve your small business on many levels. It’s a powerful marketing tool that can help propel your business forward.
Here are several compelling reasons to blog for your small business, plus some tips for blogging more consistently.
Are there still benefits to blogging … even if nobody is reading it? Here’s a fresh take on blogging, the original content fuel of the creator economy.
The relevance of blogging
First, let me acknowledge the elephant in the room. In an era where short-form video is the rage, does blogging even matter?
Based on the statistical evidence, blogging is actually more important than ever. There are more bloggers than ever, and more blog posts are being published. And this doesn’t count the huge surge in written newsletters being propelled by platforms like Medium, Substack, and LinkedIn.
I think the enduring business case for blogging is simple. Reading is still the preferred way to learn for many people, so blogs will die only when reading dies. A few current stats:
There are over 600 million blogs. That means that the blogging industry makes up a third of the web.
People publish 70 million new posts on WordPress.com every month.
People post over 75 million new comments on WordPress.com blogs every month.
22% of bloggers post every single week.
The future of text-based content seems bright because Gen Z loves to read. According to research published by Forbes, 35% say they read more today than they did two years ago, 55% of Gen Z now read every week, and 40% read daily. The difference is that 67% of Gen Zers read on their phones, compared to 51% of older generations, who still savor the feel of paper.
Let’s dissect the benefits of blogging … even if nobody is reading it!
1. Search engine benefits of blogging
This may be the most obvious of all the business benefits of blogging. Search engines give preference to websites that have fresh, relevant content. Hubspot research showed that sites with blogs get 55% more traffic than sites without blogs — even if there are no readers!
However, this is a benefit that is under attack. Google is keeping the bulk of search queries in-house and nobody really knows right now how text-based content fits into the AI-based search capabilities. It makes sense that consistent content creation will be recognized and absorbed into AI responses, but clearly this is an emerging field.
Here’s a guess. AI-based search engines will prioritize text-based content because it is easy to process. I am consistently showing up as one of the top ten digital marketing experts, if you ask ChatGPT. Where is that answer coming from? My guess is that ChatGPT is not fueled by my podcast or videos. It has to be from the blog, right?
Perhaps if no have no subscribers, AI is still reading your content!
2. Infinite search life
On a recent podcast, author James Clear revealed that the genesis of his bestselling book Atomic Habits was an obscure blog post.
Several years ago, a reporter researching a story unearthed one of his little-read blog posts and linked to it in a New York Times article. A book publisher happened to click on the link and thought the basis of the old blog post would make a good book. Thus, Atomic Habits was born, a book that sold more than 10 million copies and changed Mr. Clear’s life forever!
And this was a blog post almost nobody had read!
In full disclosure, I have never had a blog post sell 10 million books. If I did, I would be writing this from The Maldives instead of my living room couch. However, I have had many new clients and fans discover me from obscure old posts. Blog posts work forever.
3. Fueling the personal brand
I believe this is the MOST IMPORTANT of all the benefits of blogging.
The only thing that will save us from AI overwhelming our human skills — and even careers — is the personal brand. If you are not working on this, please start.
You must create content to be known in this world and create a lasting emotional connection to people who will help you reach your goals. On this blog, I’ve started to add a badge that says “100% Human Content.” Always has been. Always will be. This is increasingly becoming a point of differentiation!
It doesn’t take millions of readers to succeed with a blog. It takes an emotional connection to the right people who can activate your dreams.
4. Fuel for the content engine
Your investment in a consistent stream of text-based content can be leveraged in many ways to support a content marketing strategy. I use links from blog posts to answer customer questions, as the basis for speeches, newsletter content, and as reading assignments for my college classes and workshops.
Original ideas first expressed in a blog post often appear later in my Marketing Companion podcast, videos, and answers to questions when I am interviewed. The benefits of blogging show up in my professional life every day.
