Blogging has blossomed from the creative hobby of a few into a hugely successful business. Millions of people across the internet use blogging as an outlet to share their views on everything from the best apple pie recipe to in-depth reviews on the latest iPhone.

But when it comes to a business blog the focus is usually on driving more traffic to your site, which eventually leads to more conversions. Blogs are also a great way of informing your clients about new products, industry news and your office culture.

You don’t have to have a PhD in English to be able to write a successful blog post; all you need is a passion for what you’re writing about. The writing style will come along with practice, but if you’re consistent and informative in your blog, you’ll notice results.

In this two-part article about business blogs, we’ll first cover 5 ways your business will benefit from a blog. In our next article we’ll offer 5 tips to get you on the road to blogging success.

Not convinced you need a blog? Check out these 5 benefits of business blogging:

1. Search Engine Optimization – perhaps the number one reason you should consider a blog is to boost your SEO. Simply put, a blog gives you an avenue to create more content for your website visitors and give new potential customers a reason to land on your page.

A blog also gives you chances to include keywords which are relevant to your industry that will score well with a search engine. By writing articles that are related to your industry, you can use words that a customer might be searching for.

However, you shouldn’t attempt to cram your blog posts full of keywords. Instead, write quality content that is directed at your target audience. Search engines are smart; they know the difference between keyword stuffing (bad) and quality content (good).

2. Organic content for social media platforms – you can only repost your latest online offer or retweet your favorite business so many times. Eventually you’re going to have to come up with unique content to engage with your social media followers.

The best way to do this is through your business blog. Each blog post you write can be turned into a linked tweet or Facebook post. If you can come up with intriguing content, this will grow your social media presence as well as drive new traffic to your website.

3. Keep your clients informed – once you have a well-established client base, you want to make sure you keep them engaged. One way to do this is by publishing blog posts that are directed at your current clients. These can be informative articles about your products and services, special pricing and offers, or just good-to-know information that a client might find interesting.

When you do have content that you feel all of your clients should read, for example a limited-time offer or product release, consider sending out an email with a link to the blog post. However, make sure you do this sparingly and only if the content is a ‘must read’; you never want to risk spamming your clients.

4. Long term results – blog posts are great because they don’t disappear after two weeks. For example, a blog post you wrote two years ago can still drive new traffic to your site. Successful blog posts will continue showing up on search engine results. You can also share old blog posts on social media that you feel are still relevant to your audience.

Some blog posts aren’t initially a hit, but after a few months can start climbing the SEO ladder. Something written six months ago might attract a new client because they’re just seeing it for the first time.

5. Create a company image – One of our favorite aspects of a blog is the opportunity to express our company’s values, as well as our office environment. Sure, most of our posts are tech related, but we write occasional posts about Utah State athletics (our office is located 5 minutes from the university), holiday-related posts, and even articles about what goes on behind the WestHost doors.