Blogging isn’t new. It’s been around for over 20 years. Many blogs were started as a place for people to share their personal stories or current events with the world but today a blog is an integral part of your content marketing strategy. But how does blogging help your business?

There are several ways a blog helps your business but these are my top four:

   * Allows your clients to know, like, and trust you,
   * Gives your ideal client a sense of what it would be like to work with you,
   * Provides a way for search engines to find you, and
   * Gives you a place to share updates.

The Know, Like, and Trust Factor

You’ve probably heard about the know, like, and trust factor before. It’s an essential networking principle coined by Bob Burg in his book Endless Referrals. People buy from people they know, like, and trust and a blog is a great way to help people get to know, like, and trust you.

If people are going to invest in your services, they'll likely want to get to know you first and the best way to do that is through your website. They’ll want to know your background, what types of clients you work with, how you help them, and what your specialty is. You can provide all this information on your blog through the content you write about.

By sharing blog posts that answer questions your ideal clients have, not only are you demonstrating your expertise, but you are also being helpful which in turn encourages people to like you. When people like you, they’ll want to support you and they will buy from you.

Demonstrating your expertise is a great way to build trust with your readers. If you consistently answer questions people have and show them how you can help them through articles on our blog, your readers are going to trust you which is also going to encourage them to buy from you.

A Peek Into Your World

Demonstrating your expertise on your blog by being helpful and answering questions your ideal clients have is one way you can show people what it’s like to work with you. Another way is by letting your personality come through in your writing. You can do this by sharing a personal story that your clients will relate to or a look “behind the scenes” in your business.

If you need ideas for content that demonstrates your expertise and/or shows off your personality, check out “5 Pieces of Content Your Tribe Wants to See” by guest blogger Kayla Brissi, Life Coach and Business Strategist. Kayla recommends sharing content that is faith-focused, inspirational, everyday, mysterious, or educational to help convert your readers into paying clients.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

What is SEO? Google is a search engine and when it is optimized for you, it drives traffic to your website. Google and other search engines suggest websites to users based on how relevant they feel they are to what the user is searching for. So when a user does a Google search, Google will list your site near the top of the search results if the keywords in your blog post closely match what the user was searching for.

Your blog provides a way for people to find you when your blog posts have great keywords (meaning they are really relevant to what people are searching for). One way to ensure your blog posts have great keywords is to put yourself in your ideal readers' shoes and search for what they’re searching for. See what populates in the Google search toolbar. Then make sure your blog post contains those keywords in the title and throughout the post but especially in the introduction because that will register higher in Google’s search results.

Try using phrases instead of a single word for your keywords. Remember, it’s what people are going to be searching for. Your ideal reader is likely not going to type “business taxes” into the Google search bar. They are more likely to type “how do I file my business taxes”.

Staying Current

Google likes to see fresh content so if you’re blogging on a regular basis, you are more likely to come up in a Google search than a competitor that doesn’t have a blog. By posting on a regular basis, you will also continue to build your know, like, and trust factor with your audience. For the most part, people like to work with professionals who are consistent, stay current in their industry, and share what they know.

Grab my comprehensive blogging guide Blogging for Busy People.