What Exactly is a Business Blog and Why You Should Have One

A blog is a powerful tool. It can have an impact on many facets of your business: everything from communication to marketing, human resources, research and development.

Placed at the heart of a growth strategy, it can be highly instrumental in achieving ambitious business objectives.

What is a blog?

In practical terms, a blog is a website pure and simple. Nothing more, nothing less. It is an Internet platform dedicated exclusively to publishing content, which can take different forms: copy, photos, videos, etc.

The purpose of a blog is to allow its administrators (those who own the blog) to disseminate content easily and quickly. In some cases, the blog is integrated as a complement to the primary website. From a business perspective, this is normal recommended procedure. For example, the article you are presently reading is in the blog section of our website.

A summary of blog characteristics is provided below:

• The word blog comes from “web log”; it is a site that publishes information on the Web.
• It consists of posts normally displayed in reverse chronological order.
• The verb “to blog” means to add content or publish a post on a blog.
• Blogs allow you to publish content without having any knowledge in programming, which has greatly contributed to their popularity.
• Many blogs offer visitors the opportunity to comment on the posts, but this is not mandatory.
• Some blogs are administered by individuals; others represent a brand or an enterprise.
• Several authors can write for a same blog.

Do we have to choose between a blog and a website?

That IS the question for many, when they consider integrating the tool. Is it better to opt for a blog alone? If you already own a website, should you eliminate it from your business plan and focus exclusively on a blog? Does this mean that all your interactive paraphernalia will suddenly become obsolete?

Not at all. In fact, it is entirely feasible for a blog and a website to cohabit harmoniously and successfully. Strategically, as inbound marketing and content marketing specialists, we believe it is a definite plus for an enterprise to add a blog to its website.

What is especially important to consider is the logic that links both tools. To take full advantage of the benefits of a business blog, you must implement a strategic plan which includes various stages (analysis, production, dissemination, etc.). The best Internet success stories result from executing well thought out plans, regardless of the tool. When not working in unison, these two components rarely achieve their full potential.

What are the benefits of a business blog?

Here are a few benefits of publishing a business blog:

• Acquisition of quality traffic
• Increase in brand visibility
• Presentation of recent products
• Increase in company/customer interaction
• Energized social networks

A few statistics about blogs

Enterprises with a business blog:

• Enjoy an average increase of 55% in Web traffic.
• Get 97% more inbound links than their competitors with no blog.
• Have 434% more pages indexed by search engines and 97% more indexed links than the competition.
• 70% of consumers and decision-makers prefer to learn about an enterprise through articles rather than through advertising.

A business blog not only helps enterprises share their knowledge and position themselves as experts. It also gives them the chance to capture the attention of potential customers and to generate quality leads.

We live in an era where marketing isn’t what it used to be. Today, our efforts are aimed predominantly at gaining the interest of visitors and boosting the notoriety of the brands we are promoting.

In a context such as this, the blog becomes a valuable tool capable of helping us achieve this kind of objective.