You’ve spent a bit of time online researching how to market your business. And every marketer (and their dog) is saying that you should start a blog to grow your business.

But your business relies on local customers. Do those people really care about what you write online? Can a blog really help your local business in Melbourne?

Well my short answer is yes. The long answer is also yes (but only if you do it right).

Want to know more? Read on.

The Benefits of Blogging for Local Businesses

One of the benefits to having a blog is increased presence on search engines such as Google. Remember how I said in this post how important having a website is for local search traffic. Well Google loves websites that are updated regularly. And having a blog is the easiest way to keep fresh content coming. Fresh content = more Google juice.

It doesn’t even have to be updated daily – weekly or even fortnightly blog posts are a great way to keep your site fresh. And frankly, so few businesses in Melbourne are doing this, so you’ll probably find yourself at the top of the local search rankings pretty quickly.

But blogging in order to top the Google rankings isn’t the only reason to start a blog (and frankly, it’s not even my top reason). Blogging offers so many more opportunities for small businesses.

Think of your blog like an ongoing conversation with your customers. Having a blog gives you an excuse to stay in touch in between visits.

Say most of your customers only visit you once a month, or even less frequently than that. But in between they’re reading your updates, tips and information on local happenings and feeling just as connected to your business. Heck, it might even be a way to encourage them to visit you more often.

As a small business owner, your blog also becomes an extension of you and your personality. By blogging, you give potential customers an idea of what it would be like to work with you, or show customers just how cute/fun/gorgeous your products are. Yes, your website copy can do this too, but the less formal nature of blogs means more scope to show what you’re really like.

Let’s see how this would work for a local hairdressing business. Customer loyalty is pretty important for your businesses, and it’s so much easier to retain a customer than try and find a new one. You could just hope that your customers remember to call you for an appointment when they next want a cut (or, be a bit more proactive and follow them up yourself).

But with a blog, you’d be posting regular tips on hair care, features on the latest hairstyle trends, and fun articles on celebrity haircuts. Your customers are interested in this, so they regularly read your blog and suddenly you’re top of mind when they next want a cut (or maybe they’ve even been inspired by the new pink hair trend to try something new).

Can you see how effective blogging could be for your business too?

If you have any questions about how to use blogging for your local business, pop them in the comments below and I’ll be sure to include them in the post series.

Image source: Flickr/Mike Licht