Blogging first began as something people did to share tidbits about their life. In fact, the first blog was created by a college student named Justin Hall in 1994. Back then, it was just considered someone’s personal homepage. Eventually, these types of web pages were coined as weblogs (web-logs), which shortened to the term blog. Eventually, businesses realized that they can use blogs to work in their favor, and they became more than just something for personal websites. If you have a startup business, you need to know how blogging can help lift it off the ground.
Finding Business Partners
Startup businesses need all the help they can get. You’re probably in the market for business partners who could vastly expand your business by investing in it. When you blog regularly, you put your name out there in the world for others in your line of business to see. It’s a good way for business partners to get to know you, your personality, and your business goals. Through blogging, people can get to know you fairly well, and you can find yourself roping in business partners without even trying. If you could use some partners to make your business grow, keep blogging.
Creating a Landing Page
Your business needs many different social media outlets to make a name for itself. For example, you should have a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and any other outlets you can find to market your startup business. One thing that all of those pages should have in common is a landing page where they all link together. Your blog is a great place for this to happen. Make sure you have links to all of your social media pages and all of your social media pages link back to your blog. This will increase your marketing significantly because people who are clicking on your social media posts can easily find your blog and vice versa.
Attract Customers
Attracting business partners and other people in the business world isn’t your only priority, and it’s not the only use of your blog. The biggest thing that your blog can do for your startup company is attract new customers. Blogs are the new word of mouth because you can do everything from share articles your customers would be interested in to promote new and exciting products.
For example, Hampton Creek began with making a vegan mayonnaise that doesn’t contain eggs. Considering how many different products mayonnaise is used on, that was a very big deal. The blog allowed the company to discuss other new products that they were creating, and they went from having Just Mayo to Just Ranch, Just Cookie Dough, and many other healthy and vegan products that people were excited to buy. Thanks to blogging, Hampton Creek went from being a tiny company in California who sold eggless mayonnaise, to a much larger company with a passionate customer base who sells a whole line of products.
Customer Relations
The ability to talk to customers can make a huge difference when it comes to growing a business. Thanks to the internet, it’s easy for businesses and customers to engage back and forth between each other. Before blogging and social media, businesses tended to only hear from customers when they had complaints. Now it’s a simple button click for customers to tell businesses when they love a product and suggestions for new ones. If you have a blog with a comments section, you have a place for your customers to comment about how they feel about a product. They can also leave the comments on Facebook posts and tweets on Twitter. If you are seeing a lot of the same suggestions from customers, you can consider implementing these suggestions into your business, because you know what will make the majority of your customers happy. If you notice a majority of your customers have the same questions about your products, it will also allow you to change product descriptions to make them more informative. You can also add common questions to the FAQ (frequently asked questions) section on your blog.
Show off Your Knowledge
Another added benefit to blogging is to simply show yourself off. Blog about different aspects of your business that allows you to shine a light on your expertise in your field. It will put your customers at ease and impress potential, future business partners if you spread your knowledge. Your blog will show that you had more than a good idea. You can prove that you are, in fact, the brains behind the operation.
A blog is important for a startup business. It shows the world who you are along with promoting your business. You can meet business partners, advertise, and simply chat with your customers. Your blog can make your startup go from non-existent to thriving.
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