This article will help you understand why certain tactics and approaches are more effective than others when it comes to blogging for business. We will also introduce the compound effect of content marketing and why it is important for your blogging business.
The Primary Goal of Business Blogging
When blogging for business, it’s essential to understand that your primary goal should not be traffic generation, but customer acquisition. While many content marketing teams focus on vanity metrics such as the number of published articles, blog visitors, or email subscribers, these are secondary considerations at best.
The most important key performance indicator (KPI) for a business blog is the number of orders or sales generated per month. Your blog should be treated as a customer acquisition channel, not merely a traffic acquisition channel.
Traffic is a vanity metric. We never had a goal of growing traffic to our blog. Our primary goal has always been acquiring new customers and growing our business.
To illustrate this point, let’s consider the case of Ahrefs, a popular SEO tool provider. In about two years, they managed to grow their blog traffic from 15,000 to 150,000 visits per month. While this might seem impressive, the raw traffic numbers weren’t their primary concern. Instead, they focused on bringing highly targeted visitors who were likely to convert into customers and generate revenue for the business.
The Three Main Customer Acquisition Channels
To understand how blogging can effectively drive customer acquisition, it’s important to recognize the three main customer acquisition channels:
- Paid Advertising: This includes platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and other paid promotional channels.
- Word of Mouth: Referrals from satisfied customers and industry influencers.
- Organic Search: Traffic from search engines based on relevant keywords and queries.
A well-executed blogging strategy can expand and enhance all three of these channels:
- It provides valuable content for paid advertising campaigns, improving ad relevance and quality scores.
- High-quality blog posts can generate buzz and encourage sharing, amplifying word-of-mouth marketing.
- Consistently publishing relevant, optimized content can significantly boost organic search visibility and traffic.
The Simple Realization That Hinders Rapid Blog Growth
One of the most important realizations that often keeps people from achieving rapid blog growth is the failure to understand the compound effect of content marketing. Many bloggers and businesses expect immediate results from their content efforts, but the reality is that content marketing is a long-term strategy that builds momentum over time.
The compound effect in content marketing works like this:
- You consistently produce high-quality, targeted content.
- Each piece of content slowly gains traction in search engines and social media.
- As your content library grows, you start to see exponential growth in traffic and engagement.
- This increased visibility leads to more backlinks, social shares, and overall authority in your niche.
- The compounding effect accelerates, leading to even more traffic and, ultimately, more customers.
Understanding and embracing this concept is crucial for long-term success in content marketing. It’s not about going viral or generating massive traffic spikes; it’s about consistently delivering value to your target audience and patiently building a strong foundation for sustainable growth.
Conclusion
As we’ve explored in this lesson, the key to successful business blogging lies in focusing on customer acquisition rather than raw traffic numbers. By understanding the three main customer acquisition channels and how blogging can enhance them, you can create a content strategy that drives real business results.
Remember, the compound effect of content marketing means that success may not be immediate, but with consistent effort and a focus on delivering value to your target audience, you can build a powerful blog that serves as an effective customer acquisition tool for your business.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why shouldn’t I focus on increasing my blog’s traffic?
While traffic is important, it’s not the ultimate goal for a business blog. Instead, focus on attracting highly targeted visitors who are more likely to become customers. Quality traffic that converts is more valuable than high volumes of untargeted traffic.
Q: How long does it take to see results from content marketing?
Content marketing is a long-term strategy that typically takes several months to a year to show significant results. The compound effect means that your efforts will build upon each other over time, leading to exponential growth in traffic and customer acquisition.
Q: What should be the primary KPI for a business blog?
The primary KPI for a business blog should be the number of orders or sales generated per month. This metric directly ties your content efforts to business growth and revenue generation.
Q: How can blogging enhance paid advertising efforts?
Blogging can provide valuable content for paid advertising campaigns, improving ad relevance and quality scores. This can lead to better ad performance, lower costs per click, and higher conversion rates for your paid campaigns.
Q: Is it necessary to publish new blog posts frequently?
While consistency is important, quality should always take precedence over quantity. Focus on creating high-quality, targeted content that provides value to your audience. A steady publishing schedule can help, but don’t sacrifice content quality for the sake of frequency.
