WHY EVERY PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FIRM SHOULD BLOG!

Blogging has so many benefits no matter what size your business is - large, small or on your own, blogging is becoming increasingly important to include as part of your marketing strategy. This is especially crucial for the professional services sector - investing time in blogging can reap huge rewards.

Although, many professional services firms, including our clients, can find blogging a challenge: “What I do is boring, nobody will be interested in what I have to say” or “What should I write about?”, it’s important to remember that as a professional service, you are having to sell your experience and expertise! Sharing insights and knowledge is key to building trust with existing clients, prospective clients, referrers and helping attract the best talent.

Why your business needs a blog!

• Blogging drives traffic to your website – As mentioned in a previous blog, there is no point in investing in a website if you don’t update it and continue to add new content. Posting regular content will not only help with search engine optimisation, but you will also look more credible - visitors will see you are a thought leader by adding regular, educational, insightful news.
• Improves search engine optimisation (SEO) – Blogging significantly improves SEO – blog content increases visibility with search engines. Blogging is also an opportunity to include internal links, which not only boosts SEO but also helps to point visitors to relevant pages on your website.
• Shows that you are an expert – Professional Services firms need to stand out with their knowledge and expertise. With clients having access to much more choice through the internet and social media, they will research a business before committing to getting in touch. Blogging helps as part of that prospect’s research process, giving your business credibility and demonstrating that you know what you are talking about.
• Builds your audience – A regular blog makes you stay front of mind and in turn builds your audience through email sign-ups. Blogging is also a good way to keep your audience updated about the latest industry news and developments within your business and helps to get across your personality.
• Blogs can be repurposed– Blogs are great for repurposing content. Through social media, webinars, videos, guides and industry magazines, your blog can be used in many ways. Blogging is particularly helpful to keep your social media channels going with up to date, current and relevant content. See our earlier blog which gives some more repurposing ideas. Advertising blogs on social media can be very effective and we have had recent success promoting blogs and webinars for our clients through LinkedIn ‘Promoted Posts’ where you can laser target your audience.
• Generates leads – A report from HubSpot found that customers with blogs gathered 68% more leads than customers without. Blogging is a definite when it comes to growing your business and generating new leads.
• It’s cost-effective – apart from the time investment, blogging is an easy and cost-effective marketing activity, and you will soon be able to identify return on investment through website visitors, social media analytics, email sign-ups and enquiries to determine the success of your blogs and how often you should be blogging.

Top Tips

With so many blogs out there, how do you make sure you stand out with yours? Creating strong content is key! In this blog, we explain what great content looks like. To help increase visitors and build a loyal following here are a few top tips to consider:

• Ask your clients – asking your clients what they would like to read about or questions they would like answered will help you to identify the most appropriate, relevant, and interesting topics for your blog. Getting feedback from clients and starting a conversation is another way to build client relationships and trust. Has there been an engaging subject discussed on social media that you could write about, or have you been working on something that would resonate with your audience? Think about current industry news and day to day experiences to help with topic ideas?
• Include images and videos – images and videos help to bring a blog to life, make it more exciting and interesting for the reader. Images and videos significantly increase engagement. Break your text up with imagery and video so it is easier to read and looks more visually appealing. Don’t forget to include subtitles on video - stand out captions tells the audience what the video is about and widens reach and availability for anyone, anywhere.
• Post regularly – A report by HubSpot showed consistent blogging leads to more subscribers - businesses that posted blogs regularly (more than once a week) added subscribers

twice as fast.

• Write 1,500-2,500 words – According to Wix, if you keep your blog at this length it is more likely to rank higher on search engines and get more shares and engagement. Don’t, however, just write this number of words for SEO, if what you have to say can be said more concisely then do it. It is much better to keep your blog interesting to the reader and not drag it out for the sake of it.
• Break your blog up with bullet points and subheadings to help improve readability and highlight important points.
• Share content more than once! Most blog content is still relevant after it has been shared so it makes sense to repost blog content more than once. It will reach new followers, drive traffic, and help to bulk out your social media content.

Producing a regular blog not only helps to build visibility among your target audience, but it’s also a great way to share ideas, knowledge and build a strong community and brand. If you’re struggling to find the time to write a blog or need help with content ideas, then give us a call to see how we can help you create an interesting, engaging, and thought-provoking blog.