If you run a business in Malaysia and are aiming to have a strong and credible digital reputation, you will need to use every avenue possible. You might have a social media presence and probably do well with SEO too but do you know that a blog actually helps too?
Not a traditional channel
Contrary to popular beliefs, blogs are not something of the past. Whether you are running an SME or a large corporation, blogs can do wonders to your business and brand image. When it comes to having a blog, a majority of businesses think that it is a bad idea.
This is mainly because they think it would be too troublesome having to create content regularly which users can possibly find online or anywhere else. But if you get this right, there is a high possibility that you could potentially draw more visitors to your site with a well-planned integrated marketing campaign.
Why Malaysian businesses don’t blog?
Less than 10% of Malaysian businesses today use blogs mostly because they think that blogs don’t help them much. Most of them do not venture into blogging because they don’t think this platform provides good ROI.
Moreover, they are not sure what type of content they should be blogging about or do not have the resources to do so. Time is another factor stopping them from blogging because they need to do this regularly. But, when blogging is part of your integrated marketing plan, your business will need to do this, no matter what. So, why and how can blogging work?
It shows you are serious about your business
When you blog, your customers get the feeling that you know what you are doing and you are constantly talking about it. It gives them more confidence that you are not just about selling and making money but you have something to say about what you are offering as well.
Consequentially, they will want to know more and your blogs become the place where they can find such information. In blogs, they can read about what your products are to you and not what your products are to them!
Integrate for more traffic
Contents that you publish on your blog are usually less formal. They become better quality and hence, work better on SEO. When you insert links in your content, it automatically drives more traffic to your e-commerce site.
In other words, you have an additional channel that can direct new visitors to you. However, this might not work overnight and you need to publish content consistently before it picks up. It surely helps when you have a library of original content that will push your site up the search engine results.
An alternative avenue for information
The underlying concept of blogs is that you get to offer a place for your customers to obtain more information about your products and services. This is where they could possibly go for more ‘honest’ reviews. If over 80% of consumers are more driven to buy a product after reading a review, a blog would do the job quite effectively.
This type of content can sometimes be used for social sharing too and in the long run, improve on brand awareness. If you can have content that keeps your readers captivated and coming back for more, you have a large group of loyal customers who are ready to buy from you anytime.
