Blogging was initially introduced in the 1990s to provide a way for people to share their thoughts, experiences and opinions. Today blogging has become a social phenomenon and is seen to increase online presence and provide opportunity to provide information that your customers want to read, and establish yourself as an expert in your field. Publishing a blog is far superior to social media messages as it puts a human face to your brand while educating your clients and prospective customers. It is also one of the best tools for search engine optimisation. Here are some more reasons why blogging is important to your company’s profile: Blogs demonstrate you’re an expert in your field; being an expert isn’t talking about yourself, blogs focus on articles that demonstrate your knowledge without the intrusive sales drive. Blogs improve your SEO; before, emphasis was on keywords and how often these words appeared on your site, now Google are using algorithms to determine how frequently you post and update your website in addition to the quality of the content you post. As more blogs are added, your overall website traffic will increase. Blogs give websites on average 434% more indexed pages, and 97% more indexed links: this means that the more relevant and fresh content you post, the more your website pages will be referenced. Blogs are able to get the point across in more detail than Twitter or Facebook – it would take about 200 tweets to share what a blog can say in one hit. A blog allows you to paint a fuller picture of what you are unable to say in short social media posts. Blogs identify what your customers need to know, they plug the gaps that social media can’t fill. Blogs encourage interaction: they create content that can encourage communication and feedback which can in turn can generate new ideas by simply listening to your customers. Blogs can work alongside your social media strategy: social media can offer snippets of the content of your blogs to encourage customers to read more, directing them back to the site. Blogs don’t have to be called blogs: depending on your company’s service or products, the word “Blog” might not be fitting, blogs can be passed off as “News” or even “Learning”. There is no better way to add informative and relevant content to your website on a regular basis than to introduce a blog, they can be a powerful tool in converting a curious prospect into a customer. Related articles: How Content Marketing drives traffic and enquiries