How a Blog Can increase Your Website’s Traffic and Customers
October 2, 2024
Imagine this: You’ve built a website for your business or school, you’ve invested in design, maybe even paid for some ads, but something still feels off.
You’re not getting the traffic you hoped for, and potential customers are just not finding you. What’s missing?
That was exactly the situation I found myself in over ten years ago when I first launched my website for a small marketing consultancy.
It was beautifully designed, the service pages were clear, and I was sure customers would start pouring in.
But nothing happened.
Days turned into weeks, and my analytics graph looked like a flat line in a hospital show.
Then, someone gave me a piece of advice that changed everything: “Start a blog.” At first, I hesitated.
I wasn’t a writer.
But soon, I realized that blogging was more about answering my audience’s questions than writing novels.
And when I started blogging, something amazing happened: my website traffic shot up, and with it, my client base.
Let me walk you through the same journey, showing how blogging can transform your website’s performance and bring in loads of free traffic.
The Importance of Blogs for Website Traffic
Many businesses, schools, or even personal websites focus on building beautiful web pages but miss out on a key element—content.
When I started, I had a website that looked great but had very little content aside from the basic “About Us” and “Services” pages.
These were static and didn’t give Google much reason to recommend my website to searchers.
Websites that don’t regularly update their content are often invisible in the vast ocean of the internet.
Think about it this way: a website is like a shop.
If your shop window always looks the same and never changes, passersby (in this case, Google and potential customers) might assume nothing new is happening and won’t feel the need to stop by.
A blog, however, is like constantly changing the display, adding new products, answering customer questions, and keeping things fresh.
When I published my first blog post, I didn’t see an immediate result, but within a few months, traffic started to pick up.
Google rewards fresh content.
That’s why the more you blog, the more chances you have for search engines to notice you.
How a Blog Boosts Your Website’s SEO
It’s all about keywords.
If you’ve ever searched something on Google, you’ve seen how quickly it suggests relevant results.
These results are based on keywords and how well the websites use them.
When you start a blog, every post is a new opportunity to target specific keywords that people in your niche are searching for.
For example, let’s say you own a fitness website, and you write a blog post about “The Best Workouts for Beginners.” That’s a specific phrase people might type into Google.
If your blog post is well-written, useful, and optimized, it stands a good chance of showing up in the search results.
But it’s not just about the keywords. Search engines love fresh content.
Websites that consistently post new articles, guides, or stories are seen as more relevant and active than those that stay static.
I remember one of my most successful blog posts was about a niche topic—“How to use email marketing for small businesses.”
Not many people were covering that specific topic at the time, and by optimizing my post with the right keywords (more on that later), it soon became one of my top traffic drivers.
Blogging to Solve Customer Problems
The real magic of blogging lies in solving problems.
When I started, I didn’t think about what my customers needed—I only focused on what I wanted to tell them.
Big mistake. One of the biggest lessons I learned is that if your blog answers real questions your potential customers have, they’ll find you.
Let’s say you run a school.
You might blog about topics like “How to choose the best school for your child”,
Or maybe “Tips for applying for scholarships.” These are things parents are likely to search for.
When they stumble upon your blog post, not only have you helped them out, but you’ve also introduced them to your school in a helpful, non-sales way.
This builds trust.
When people trust your website and find it helpful, they’ll be more likely to come back.
And more importantly, they’ll share your posts with others, which brings even more traffic.
I began thinking about the questions my clients were asking during consultations.
For example, many would ask, “How can I improve my online presence without spending too much on ads?”
That turned into a blog post—“5 Ways to Improve Your Website’s SEO for Free.”
And guess what? It became one of my most-shared posts.
The SEO Boost from Blogging
Now let’s dive into the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) part, which might sound complicated, but it really isn’t.
SEO is just the practice of making your website better suited for search engines like Google to understand and rank.
When you blog, you’re creating more pages for search engines to index.
The more pages you have, the more opportunities there are for your site to show up in search results.
Each blog post is a chance to use specific keywords—words or phrases your audience is searching for.
But remember, it’s not just about stuffing your post with keywords.
You need to make sure the content is relevant and valuable to the reader.
I always start by doing keyword research to figure out what terms people in my niche are searching for.
There are free tools like Google Keyword Planner or AnswerThePublic, where you can find common questions or search terms.
Once I have those, I craft a blog post around them, making sure it’s written in a way that’s natural and easy to read.
Besides keywords, blogging also helps you earn backlinks—which are like votes from other websites telling Google that your content is valuable.
The more backlinks you get, the higher you’ll rank.
A lot of my backlinks came naturally over time, just by writing helpful content.
Blogging to Solve Customer Problems
The real magic of blogging lies in solving problems.
When I started, I didn’t think about what my customers needed—I only focused on what I wanted to tell them.
Big mistake. One of the biggest lessons I learned is that if your blog answers real questions your potential customers have, they’ll find you.
Let’s say you run a school.
You might blog about topics like “How to choose the best school for your child”,
Or maybe “Tips for applying for scholarships.” These are things parents are likely to search for.
When they stumble upon your blog post, not only have you helped them out, but you’ve also introduced them to your school in a helpful, non-sales way.
This builds trust.
When people trust your website and find it helpful, they’ll be more likely to come back.
And more importantly, they’ll share your posts with others, which brings even more traffic.
I began thinking about the questions my clients were asking during consultations.
For example, many would ask, “How can I improve my online presence without spending too much on ads?”
That turned into a blog post—“5 Ways to Improve Your Website’s SEO for Free.”
And guess what? It became one of my most-shared posts.
Blogs Can Lead to More Engagement and Conversions
So, you’ve got the traffic, but now what?
The ultimate goal is to turn visitors into customers, right?
That’s where the real power of blogging comes in.
When people land on your blog, and it answers their questions, they’re much more likely to explore the rest of your website.
Maybe they’ll visit your services page, or check out your products.
Every blog post is a gateway for them to learn more about you.
But don’t stop there. Always include a call-to-action (CTA) at the end of your posts.
This could be something like, “If you found this post helpful, subscribe to our newsletter,” or “Contact us today for more information.”
The more people engage with your website, the more likely they are to convert.
I remember including a simple CTA at the end of one of my posts: “Schedule a free consultation today.”
I didn’t expect much from it, but within a month, I had booked 15 consultations from that one blog post alone.
Case Study— How Blogging Transformed My Website’s Traffic
Let me share a real-life example from my journey.
When I first started blogging, I wasn’t getting much traffic—maybe 100 visitors per month.
But after consistently posting new content (I aimed for one post per week), my traffic started to grow.
Within six months, I was getting around 2,000 visitors per month—all from organic search.
And these weren’t just random visitors; they were people actively looking for the solutions I was offering.
Many of these visitors turned into clients.
It’s not just me, though.
Many companies see a dramatic increase in traffic after starting a blog.
According to HubSpot, businesses that blog regularly get 55% more website visitors than those that don’t.
Practical Blogging Tips to Get Started
Now that you know how powerful blogging can be, here are some practical tips to get you started:
1.Consistency is Key: Aim to post at least once a week. It doesn’t have to be a novel—short, well-written posts work just as well.
2. Focus on Value: Make sure every post is solving a real problem your audience has. Think about the questions they ask you regularly.
3. Optimize for SEO: Use relevant keywords, but don’t overdo it. Make sure your content is natural and valuable.
4. Promote Your Posts: Once you publish a blog, share it on social media, through email newsletters, and any other channels available to you.
5. Keep an Eye on Analytics: Use tools like Google Analytics to see which posts are performing well and which aren’t. This will help you refine your strategy over time.
