Have you ever gone to a company’s website, seen they have a blog, clicked on it, and there are 2 entries there? Two posts, both maybe a week or two apart, from a few years ago. Sitting there…. lonely, outdated and pointless.

Adding a blog as a section on a website is often an afterthought during a website redesign, and most companies don’t necessarily have firm plans to blog at that time. But it seems to be easy at first thought. Write a few paragraphs once a week, twice a month, maybe once a month -- sure, easy. We can all take turns and everyone will contribute. Yes, we will definitely start blogging.

But then, when the time comes to actually do it, a couple get posted -- then, crickets.

Why? A few reasons: while updating content on the website is beneficial, it is not an urgent task. It easily gets pushed to the backburner.

On the other hand, there are so many reasons to make it a bigger deal in 2016. HubSpot offers several reasons why:

It helps drive traffic to your website. A blog is not a 3 paragraph sales pitch - it’s a timely, relevant chunk of content that will appeal to your digital audiences - including both current and prospective new clients. So, for our B2B engineering client, topics would include industry news, recaps on trade shows, and describing the ways they solved their customers’ problems. When users search online for the topic your blog is written about, the fact that a page on your website exists about that topic makes it much more likely that searcher will find your site online.
Blogs can help generate leads. When the blog content page is found via online search, it is just one more page that your website visitors land on. Calls to action (like fill out this form, call us today for more information, subscribe to our email list) are ways potential customers can be nurtured into becoming actual customers. The point is, your blog encourages action.
It establishes authority. The fact that your business is writing about the topics that are timely and relevant to your target audience gives online searchers a great impression of who you are and what you do. Your blog will portray you as a subject matter expert, and a credible, knowledgeable solution to your customer’s problems.
It drives long-term results. The blog is content on your website, and once posted, can continue to deliver traffic to your site far into the future.

Maybe this is your business New Years Resolution and you know the benefits. But if this is still too daunting? Consider hiring an intern, consultant or company (like Oak Tree) to create a blog calendar, to write the blogs, post them and share them on your social media accounts.

Happy 2016!