Should your brand have a blog?

If your company doesn't generate useful content, it's almost three decades behind – and it’s leaving money on the table. This is what Bill Gates said in 1996. 

There’s no question that Content is, in fact, king. Oops… but isn’t that old news? No, it’s not! In this blog, we’ll show you that Gates’ comment is more current than ever and that it is worth having a blog.

Blogs are more alive than ever. According to WordPress, one of the most used platforms in the world, around 70 million new blog posts circulate every month. 

Blogs can reinvigorate your company's other communication channels, such as websites, newsletters, and social media profiles. based on the company's own land – unlike social networks that change their guidelines and algorithms all the time. It is your asset, free from the variations, rules and instabilities of these platforms. What's more: if any social network ceases to exist, if you have a blog, you won't lose all the content you created or your contacts.

Have you ever thought about it?

Returning to the article that Gates published on the Microsoft website in 1996, he drew a comparison between the internet and television. He pointed out that those who were most successful were those who invested in quality information and entertainment from the beginning. He stated that the definition of content on the internet was still not very clear, but there was a large field to be explored: “Content is where I expect a lot of the real money to be made on the internet...”.

There is no doubt that Gates was a visionary. Today, we know that brands that invest in quality content have a much greater organic reach in the competitive digital universe. According to a recent Search Engine Journal survey of marketing professionals, 49% of respondents cited organic search as the channel with the highest return on investment (ROI) for their websites. Therefore, we state again that those who do not produce content leave money on the table.

The active consumer

The most common behavior of today's consumers is, before buying or hiring something, searching the internet for answers to their questions and solutions to their problems. This is where your company's content can provide the answers that consumers are looking for and, consequently, generate sales.

We know, however, that conversion is a long journey. It requires a relationship between the parties to establish trust until the consumer feels safe and “swipes the card”. This doesn't happen overnight. You need to let your blog work so that, over time, it becomes an important cog in the sales machine.

We reinforce: it's worth having a blog, regardless of your company's segment. See a summary of the main, tested and approved advantages of this communication channel:

• A well-developed blog becomes an excellent tool for directing a greater flow of customers to your company's website.

• Frequently publishing blog articles helps increase your authority and visibility within your niche. This library of evergreen content is a way to connect with people, show that your brand understands the subject and your customers can trust it.

• The blog stores all its content in an optimized and organized way and, as a bonus, can generate recurring sales.

• From the blog, your company can create a list of hot leads for your business.

• Within the blog, your company can interact with the public, making it an open channel of communication and loyalty.

• An organized blog can receive many qualified visits only organically, without spending on paid traffic, which, in fact, is increasingly expensive.

Multiply organic reach

A survey carried out in 2023 by two content marketing giants, HubSpot and Leadster, which analyzed more than 2 thousand websites, and another 2020 survey carried out by Sistrix, presented data that prove that it is worth having a blog.

• 41% of visits to the websites of companies in the service sector are organic, that is, they happen without brands paying a penny for ads on Google, Facebook or other platforms.
• 28.5% of clicks on organic Google search results are made on the link that appears first in the list. The second position receives 15.7% of clicks, while the third position receives 11%. This means that a page that ranks well on Google will have many more hits than those that appear lower in searches.
• 60% of sites analyzed receive less than 1000 hits per month. The data indicates that the Brazilian market has a strong growth potential to be fulfilled by companies that invest in quality content.

The way to have a winning blog

There is no doubt that a consistent blog can change a company's digital presence from water to wine. All segments can use this powerful tool as a strategy to engage, educate and convert their target audience.

Just to give an example, we researched the position of a healthcare company, which does not have a blog, in relation to its competitors in organic search on Google. Result: this company has 45% fewer organic hits compared to its main competitor, which has a blog.

Creating a blog and, above all, feeding it with quality content requires strategic planning and expertise in writing relevant texts. At SmartPR, we have a 360-degree view of communication to help our clients reach their audiences through the most diverse channels, including the blog.

We invite you and your company to partner with us to plan your blog and increase your organic digital reach. Let's talk? Discover our work!