• For some business owners blog is just a platform where you randomly post articles and it serves no purpose - however, it's a wrong impression. 
• Blog is a way of keeping in touch with your customers and share information with them that you can't share in any other way. 
• Some of the benefits of blogging include collecting emails, strengthening bonds with your customers and promoting your product. 

You've probably heard that having a blog is great for your business – it's one of the best ways to build your brand and share news with your readers. But often, many small businesses believe having a blog is simply about writing articles every day and hoping they drive traffic to their products and improve sales. In an ideal world, that would be the case, but Internet users today are less patient and more skeptical, which means you need a solid content strategy in place before you even begin blogging. It's understandable that as a small business owner, your time and resources are limited, but you still want to turn your traffic into something more valuable for your business. In this article, I'm going to talk about some simple strategies you can implement right now to make your blog traffic more worthwhile.

1. Quality over quantity

It's not going to do you good to produce a lot of content in a short amount of time. You want to create fewer pieces that are better quality, rather than writing just for the sake of it.

Fluff or filler content just doesn't work anymore and it can really bring down your engagement.

If you can't create the content yourself, invest in a high quality writer with relevant experience in your niche. Consider the type of questions your customers would ask prior to purchasing and develop content that will help them in some way; every content piece should serve the purpose of helping your reader.

2. Optimise for search

If you get your blog posts ranked on Google, you're going to have better luck with traffic and ultimately conversions. This is where keywords become important. I like to use query-based keyword optimisation when doing keyword research because people are typing questions into Google every single second, and if you've got an answer worth sharing, you want to be the resource they find. Always put your readers first, but don't forget about the search engines.

3. Capture emails

In reality, first time visitors aren't likely to purchase anything until they've developed trust in your brand. Your blog is a great trust-building tool, so if you provide your readers with content they are interested in they will be more likely to purchase from you in the future. If you have a particularly successful blog post that's receiving plenty of traffic, add a call to action at the end of it inviting visitors to become subscribers to your newsletter. For a better chance of capturing emails, offer them something for free like an eBook or other downloadable resources in exchange for their email address.

An email list is incredibly valuable because you have a database of interested leads who are more likely than just the general public to become future customers.

4. Link to more of your content

One of your goals when blogging should be to increase the time spent on your site. This is arguably an important factor Google considers when ranking you in the search engine. If users are spending more time on your page, your content must be good, therefore it's more likely to be ranked higher in the search results. With every article you post, add links to your other content that your reader will find valuable.

For example, you have an article "how to reduce absenteeism in the workplace", you can feature links to articles like "4 reasons why your workers are taking too many days off", or "How to create a more positive workspace for your team" within the body of the article or at the end. The more content a reader consumes from you, the more likely they are to stick around and eventually become part of your email list.

5. Feature your products

One of the best ways to take advantage of your traffic is to feature your products within your blog posts. The best way to do this is to take beautiful product photographs and add "buy now" or "add to cart" calls to action to them within the body of the article. Avoid relying solely on text links, as they can get ignored.

Ensure your products stand out and make visuals a priority, this small tweak can make a huge difference to your conversions.

Content marketing is quickly becoming one of the best ways to build an engaged audience. If you take a more serious approach to your blog with the above tips, you'll most certainly increase your leads and your conversions. Want to learn more about content marketing for your business? Check out The Write Impact for more copywriting and content marketing resources for small businesses.