Back in the day, a startup could get by with minimal online presence. Not anymore. A business must have a blog and website to survive, let alone thrive these days. Your blog is your online home and the foundation of everything you do online. All your digital footprints must start from and lead to your website.

Blogging.

One word that always pops up when you discuss online marketing. What’s the big deal about blogging? Consider these eye-opening numbers if you aren’t sure if business blogging is worthwhile.

• Lead Generation: Companies with blogs generate 67% more leads per month than companies that don’t blog. (Demand Metric)

• More Visitors: the average company that blogs generates 55% more website visitors than one that doesn’t. (Social Media Today)

• Higher Rankings: having an active blog increases your chances of ranking higher in search engines by a staggering 434%. (Tech Client)

• High Close Rate: Inbound SEO leads have a healthy 14,6% close rate, while outbound leads that come through direct mail or print advertising have a mere 1,7% close rate. (OptinMonster)

• Brand Awareness: 70% of buyers prefer to learn about a company through articles rather than advertisements. (Social Media Today)

• Selling Power: 60% of people say they bought a product after originally reading a blog post about it. (Demand Metric)

I’m sure you agree with me when I say these business blogging statistics are impressive. To say blogging is a useful branding tool is an understatement.

But to get a piece of the pie, you must run your business blog expertly. Let me show you how to do just that. Here’s how to build a winning blog from scratch from the ground up.