Blogging remains one of the most cost effective ways to engage your visitors. How do we know? Hubspot recently conducted a study to better understand the impact of blogs have on lead conversion. See what they learned:
Data Point 1
If you think blogging is dead or an ineffective way to generating more traffic and leads to your website, think again. In fact, 66% of inbound-run companies stated that blog content creation is a top inbound marketing priority for the next 12 months. These companies have realized the value in blog creation and how it ties with growing SEO and organic presence. For example, search engines like Google tend to prefer websites that have unique and informative content delivered on a consistent schedule.
Source: State of Inbound 2016
Data Point 2
Blog posts are more susceptible to being skimmed over rather than being consumed completely when compared to more interactive mediums such as videos, infographics or slideshows. In the study it was found that blogs will be skimmed by your visitors 43% of the time. Do not let this deter you from blogging as skimming does not mean that they are not reading your content at all. This just means that you must be creative in making sure the message you are hoping to convey through your blog is clear. A few tips for making your blogs easier to skiimm are 1) maximizing visuals, 2) bulleting out your key points and 3) keeping your blog content between 300-750 words.
Also keep in mind that while the reader is skimming your content, they will continue to build an impression on your brand and your ability to deliver informative content that is important to them.
Data Point 3
Blogs do not require as much time to develop compared to other marketing pieces. A HubSpot Inbound 2016 report shows that 46% of people typically take less than two hours to write a 500-word blog post. Chances are that you or someone from your staff can set aside two hours a week to write a blog post. Having a predictable calendar and process for getting blog articles out on to your website will help optimize the efforts so that it remains consistent and informative for your website visitors.
Source: State of Inbound 2016
Marketers remain committed to blogging through 2017 and remains a top priority for businesses focused on growth strategies. Understanding the low time investment needed to get started is important while also keeping in mind that this content is likely being skimmed so that you neither need to nit pick every detail but rather focus on delivering informative content that sets you as an authority in the industry.
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