One of the biggest objections I hear from my service-based business clients about those who are curious about blogging is the time commitment and the payoff.
Have you considered adding blogs to your website for a while now, but maybe you’ve been unsure on why you should prioritize blogging?
Maybe you think about it every once in a while, start drafting a blog post, and then think… Instagram marketing might be a better use of my time.
There are so many places we can create content online, and it can feel really overwhelming to post and show up everywhere – and to figure out where to prioritize.
Because, seriously… where’s the time?
Isn’t blogging a big-time commitment? Will it really bring leads into my business? Why should I start a blog for my business?
Let’s dig in so that you can determine if blogging is a place you want to prioritize in your content creation this year.
Is this still relevant in 2022? Isn’t blogging dead?
It’s a question I get asked a lot – although, less lately. Because I think people are starting to understand the power blogging still has in marketing.
In my experience, it’s been ignored a lot by the service-based and coaching industries, and I think it’s time that we change that!
So, let’s start with the first objection. Aren’t we in the video era? Isn’t short-form video where we should prioritize our time?
Short Form video vs Blog Posts
I’m not going to sit here and tell you that blogging is just as relevant as it ever was. A lot of marketing people will try to convince you of this.
We all only have so much attention to give – so yeah, we’re consuming less blog content in exchange for video.
TikTok has just become the most popular online destination over Google – and that’s not going to stop anytime soon.
But, there’s a huge difference in the reasons we watch a short-form video and read a long-form blog. And yet, they can work so well together.
Have a series you’re doing on TikTok? Put it together to form it into a blog post.
Give in-depth answers to your most asked questions.
Utilize the power of giving a detailed answer to solve their problem. Become a go-to resource – across platforms – to create an omnipresent experience across channels.
The way I see it, we need different mediums for different purposes. And while the short-form video style is the current, and future, of marketing – it doesn’t mean that it’s the best platform for everything we need.
Leverage your video content and transform it into blog posts – while embedding those videos into it.
Plus, I’ll say more for my stats people… 77% of internet users ARE still regularly reading blog posts.
Still not convinced? Let’s dig into the details on why it’s worth your time to start blogging, as a creative service provider.
Why should I start blogging for my biz in 2022?
1. Creating a Pinterest funnel
Pinterest has been known as a space for inspiring others – and being a great place to market your blog, since forever.
One of the most notable reasons to use Pinterest is the fact that your content has a longer lifespan than most other platforms, especially Instagram.
The average half-life of a pin (meaning the point at which it’s reached 50% of the total engagement it’s going to receive) is 3.75 months. Meaning, people can still be engaging with a pin in June that you posted in March.
We even have pins that have been circulating for years.
For comparison, the half-life of an Instagram post is 19 hours.
You can still see traffic to your website from pins you created 8 months ago. I even have some pins that are still surfacing from years ago.
But what happens when someone lands on your website? You don’t NEED a blog to use Pinterest and some of my Pinterest clients don’t have one. But the experience that happens when your pin leads to a blog one can be a better customer journey experience.
When someone lands on a blog post where you’re sharing value and giving your expertise – that gives them a glimpse of the kind of quality you offer. This is especially relevant for service-based businesses and coaches.
If you have a higher ticket offer, you likely need to nurture your audience, which means you need to get them over to consume and get to know you better. Otherwise, they’ll just hop off!
Here’s what your funnel could look like:
- Pin ➡
- Blog Post ➡
- Email opt-in related to the blog post (and ideally offer you sell) ➡
- 5-Part Email sequence with value leading to low ticket pitch.
This email opt-in could be a pop-up or embedded into the blog post – ideally, both.
Plus, you include the pin graphic in your blog post where people can share your pins for you – to make this experience continue as more people share your blog post.
▶︎ For more Pinterest Marketing tips, follow me on IG @itscoleylane.
2. Growing your email list
Speaking of this email funnel, we’ve grown our list to nearly 10,000 and cleaned it out several times, so that’s an engaged list with an open rate of over 32%. (For reference, the average email open rate is 12-25%.)
I don’t say this to brag, I say this because without having an opt-in form pop up on our website, we’d be missing out on being able to engage with the community who has liked our content.
Your email list is a great place to nurture your audience and build a relationship with them. You own your email list, unlike your Instagram following – so create a free resource that’s relevant to what you sell.
Think: What is my audience’s dire need? What can I solve for them with a quick free resource?
Free resource ideas:
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3. Getting more visibility from Google search
As a service provider, people are searching for what you have to offer – and your blogs could be showing up in the search results if you structure your blog strategically.
Ask yourself:
- What questions are my ideal audience searching for?
- Who is my ideal audience?
- What angle isn’t everyone else in the top results exploring?
4. Creating on a platform you actually own
You’ve likely heard this before, but you don’t own Instagram or TikTok – and if they disappeared tomorrow, would you still have a business?
This is why you want to have an email list, but also have a foundation for people to come and find you. Creating on a platform that you own allows you to not lose business when the algorithm changes.
Create content for your website, so that your website is more likely to show up on Google – and people have a place to come back to, even when the ‘gram is down.
5. Showcasing your credibility
There’s no better way to showcase you know what you’re talking about than posting in-depth blog posts in your niche.
You can do this by sharing:
- In-depth tutorials or how-to guides
- Case studies for the results you’ve gotten for your clients
- Behind the scenes glimpse on how you work with clients (we all love a good BTS – also, a great opportunity to embed a vlog!)
- Up-to-date industry news and how it impacts your ideal clients
6. Expand on your killer content (that you’re already spending time to create)
Can your short-form content be made into a blog post? If you combined the content from your posts, you probably have enough to make some really great blogs. Whether you hire someone to do this repurposing, or you do it yourself, it’s not that hard to make your content to work for multiple platforms – including your blog.
SO much of the content you create never gets seen. Why aren’t we using this content on multiple platforms? Chances are, unless you’re brand new to it, you have tons of content to work with. Leverage your best stuff for your blog.
7. Tapping into new leads and dream clients
Isn’t it nice to have ideal clients discover you and inquire without you seeking them out?
Being able to use keywords and serve your ideal client through a blog is a great way to passively target the right people.
It’s possible that some of your best ideal leads aren’t hanging out on the other platforms you’re frequently posting on. Or, they could discover you through your blog and connect with you through social media from there.
Adding a blog to your website helps you to diversify where you’re showing up, so that you can have more visibility and reach.
When figuring out keywords and topics to target, think about what your ideal clients looking for. Do some research around what types of blog posts might attract your ideal client.
Read: Landing Dream Clients From Your Website
8. Building domain authority
Your Domain Authority is a score from Moz that determines how likely your content is to rank in the search results on Google, Bing, etc.
Creating quality blog posts on topics that your audience needs will help you to increase this score – and help you to show up when people are searching for what you have to offer.
Obviously, you need to build out your website pages for SEO as well, but regular blog content can help you to establish credibility within Google.
This does take time to develop, but you don’t need hundreds of blogs to establish a good domain authority ranking.
9. And most importantly, serving your dream (& current) clients
What frequently asked questions do you get asked? Can you make a blog post that allows you to give your audience what they need, so you can eliminate the time you spend answering questions?
Use this blog post in an automated email that goes out for anyone inquiring with you.
- For example, if you’re a photographer, you could create a guide for your engaged clients on how to dress for their engagement session with you.
There are tons of these guides already on Google search, but it’s still helpful for you to have a resource that eliminates the need to answer every question getting thrown your way. You can simply send them the link to the article – and maybe in this case, even embed your Pinterest board in it for a visual representation.
How to get started with blogging for your business
If you’re on WordPress (or have a website on ShowIt), this free guide will give you everything you need to set up your blog for success from the plugins you should use to the essentials for starting from scratch with your ShowIt or WordPress blog.
What results to expect with blogging
The most important note when it comes to blogging is that it’s a long-game marketing approach.
You may not see the ROI right away, because it can take several months to see any of your blogs ranking on Google. So, while I get that it’s not as enticing when you have to wait a bit to see results, it’s extremely fun to get recurring views to your blog every month without the active effort of promoting it.
So, don’t expect overnight success on your blog but when you do the research to figure out what your ideal clients are searching for – and make sure to optimize your blogs, you’re setting yourself up well to get seen online.
