It’s coming up on 2019 and I keep hearing creatives say that blogging is dead.

If you think this, you are so wrong, and it’s hurting your business.

Why is blogging important for your business in 2019?

Let’s think about that for a minute… when you don’t know about a subject what do you do?

I know what I do. I grab my phone and ask my friend Google just what is on my mind.

And, because Google is a good friend, she goes and finds me some answers to that question in like .0003430423 second right.

99% of the time, if I ask Google about a specific topic, she gives me options to that specific answer in the form of a blog post.

Yuuuuppppppp.

So, as you sit there and think to yourself that blogging is dead. Blogging won’t help my business. Blogging is a waste of time. You are wrong, and not blogging is hurting your business in 2018. Don’t make it hurt your business in 2019.

If you’ve tried blogging before and never got any traction, the things you were blogging about could be the problem.

If your blog is used as a sales pitch on repeat, you are not going to have much luck.

I used to do that, but I didn’t realize that was what I was doing

As a wedding photographer, I used to just post about my sessions. You’d see posts about my last wedding, family shoots and engagement sessions. But that was it.  While my clients liked seeing their sessions up, and *maybe* their friends came to take a look, that was they didn’t stick around. I was basically showing a never-ending portfolio, and your portfolio is your sales pitch isn’t it?

Unless the viewer needed a photographer right then and there, they’d be gone and I wouldn’t have a lead.

I dreaded blogging then because it felt forced and I felt like I never knew what to write about. You can only gush about weddings so much before they sound the same, and that was the last thing I wanted to do was feel or sound inauthentic. This is when I thought about giving up blogging. Thinking “blogging is dead” but I was wrong. I just was blogging the wrong things.

I realized that people search for answers to questions, and for blogging to be content marketing that actually worked, I needed to provide the answers to those questions.

People started not only finding my blog posts but started coming back because I was helping them! I stopped blogging so much about a specific engagement session, but instead did posts about how to do engagement photos including your dogs. And all of a sudden I started getting a bunch of new clients who wanted engagement sessions with their dogs!

Content is what blogs are about in 2018 and into 2019. Content that helps answer questions! Look to serve not to sell and your business will grow.

Plus it gives you things to talk about on social media as well. Double win!

10 reasons blogging is important for your business in 2019

1. Google loves content and Google is Queen. Hello SEO anyone?
2. Answer questions and people will come back to you to learn more from you, even if they are not ready to buy yet.
3. You set yourself up as an expert and people like working with experts. And guess what, experts can charge more too.
4. Social media is getting harder and harder to be seen. There is a lot of noise.  Do what fewer people are doing, but more people are needing and you’ll be seen.
5. Blogging is a long game. You can write something in 2018 and have it still be found and usable and helpful in 2022! All that while your last IG post dies in about 2 days time.
6.  You’ll get more leads because you are attracting more people to your site!
7. Blogging gives people a reason to talk about you and to link to your site. And Google LOVES inbound links!
8. It’s cheaper than advertising and continues to work for you for years. You have to set the time aside
9. You learn more about your audience and what they want, helping you grow as a business.
10. Pinterest. If you blog, you have constant access to new content to pin. When you pin you are findable by those searching for an answer. Because Pinterest isn’t a social media feed guys, it’s a visual search engine. Take advantage of it!

So there you have it. If you don’t have a blog, now is the time to start! Brainstorm what questions your ideal client is wondering and then start answering the questions! If you want to know what people are searching for to get blog post ideas, my absolute favorite resource to figure out what to write about is called www.answerthepublic.com It’s a content marketers dream!

Not sure how you’re going to plan all this new blogging you’ll be doing? Then come grab my free marketing calendar to make it easier on yourself!