The Value of Blogging

Static Brochure Sites Are Dead. [Applause]

There are basically two types of websites: static or engaging. A static site is really just an online brochure for your company. It contains pages that discuss what you do (products and services), who does it (biographical info about the team and business), how to contact you (contact forms and social media links), and it may even include your “why” (mission statement, philosophy, purpose, etc.). If you want a return on your website investment, you need more than a static brochure site.

Dynamic Websites

You’ve no doubt heard the word “dynamic” as the counterpart to a “static” website. This quite simply means it’s updated regularly, interactive, automated, or in some other way doesn’t just sit there as a static informational brochure. Dynamic websites offer constantly updated information that entices visitors to keep coming back—not to just look up your phone number, but to get new information.

Which is why many of the most popular sites are now being developed on a blogging platform like WordPress, Joomla, Druple, Blogger, or even Tumbler. These platforms are ideal for developing dynamic functionality to help engage consumers and attract repeat visitors.

Engaging Websites

An engaging site is more than just dynamic. It’s designed to connect visitors with your brand on a deeper level; to let them get to know who you are.

The old adage “People do business with people they know, like, and trust” is not just a coined phrase to encourage business networking, it’s how consumers are doing business these days. They’re looking for businesses that not only understand their needs and concerns, but that also show them you’re more than just a corporation looking to take their money; they want to get to know the people, the soul, the heart, behind the corporate marketing jargon. What do you stand for? Do you deliver on your brand promise? How? Are your values in alignment with mine as a consumer?

The Value of Blogging

Websites are the perfect forum for allowing consumers to see behind the scenes of your business. While there are several marketing tactics to consider for your website to accomplish this (white papers, surveys and studies, social media feeds, etc.), the most foundational is through blogging.

Instead of just telling visitors that you are an expert on a given subject, through blogging you can demonstrate your expertise, while simultaneously showing that you care enough about them to share your expertise with them—for free. (No, you don’t need to give away the cow, but provide enough milk of value so they’ll want to consider buying the cow.) Through blogging consumers experience your value-add through the content you post, not just what you say is your value-add. This builds trust with today’s consumers who are truly brand-leery, and spend inordinate amounts of time researching brands before making a purchase.

Another important value of blogging is that it provides a forum for consumers to speak directly to you, the brand. Consumers today want to be heard and valued by the brands they do business with. Encourage interaction through allowing visitors to add their two cents to your blogs in comments and continue the conversation with others. Your blog should also have social share functionality so they can email the article to someone else who might find value in it, or share it on their own social media sites.

Need another reason to start blogging? It’s called SEO (search engine optimization). You know, the stuff that gets your website to show up on search engines like Google and Bing. Well, search engines love updated content. You’re not likely to be constantly revising your brand messaging for your primary web pages, so what better way to provide readers and search engines with updated content than through consistent blogging?

Lastly, if your business isn’t blogging you’re already behind the 8-ball. You say no-one else in your industry is blogging? Well, even if this is true now it won’t be for long, and most industries are already blogging so consumers now expect blogs from businesses.

So why aren’t you blogging?

You know who you are. You paid good money to have a great website Internet presence. It may even have been developed with a blogging platform such as WordPress. But it just sits there. Blog-less. A very nice online brochure. Considering this from a return on investment (ROI) standpoint, was it worth it? Are you getting your money’s worth out of this static site? Are you going to leave it as a static site, or are you going to start engaging your audience, clients, and prospective clients? Are you ready to start blogging on a regular basis? If you aren’t—and you know who you are—why not? Too busy? Not a good writer? No ideas what to write about?

Seriously, we’d like to know what your pain points are that are preventing you from blogging. Let us know in the comments below. (← See how we did that call for engagement thing here…?)

Oh, and of course, don’t hesitate to reach out to us if we can help. BRANDgfx assists clients with everything from simple SEO-editing and posting of client-written blogs, to providing a comprehensive blog strategy with topics, to managing all aspects of your blogging including writing and promoting socially. So, no excuses. With or without our help — get blogging!

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