People have been blogging since mod.ber was developed in 1983. However, many brands have only recently begun to recognize the value of blogging as a marketing strategy.

Are you still skeptical about the benefits of blogging? You can’t argue with statistics. Here are some recent findings that demonstrate the importance of blogging.

Blogging Drastically Improves Lead Generation

Blogging is a fantastic way to generate inbound leads. The average B2B marketer will increase their leads by 67% through regular blogging.

The value of blogging is even more beneficial for B2C businesses. According to HubSpot's report, The State of Inbound Marketing, brands across all verticals generate 97% more leads if they blog regularly.

Blogging is Extremely Cost-Effective

Adwords and other PPC platforms are capable of reaching customers all over the world. However, they are pretty expensive and costs are rising every year. Between 2013 and 2015, the average CPC for an Adwords ad on the first page for a non-branded keyword rose 75%.

Unfortunately, conversion rates have remained stable at CPCs rise, which means the ROI from CPC campaigns are diminishing. On the other hand, the cost of running a blog is completely free. You don't have to invest anything other than your own time.

This means blogging is by far the most cost-effective form of online marketing. However, you need a well-executed strategy before you can get started. You can read this data-driven guide for blogging and create a business blog in one hour.

Blogging is Proven to Build Trust

You have probably heard the long-standing joke "I heard it on the Internet, so it has to be true!"

This joke makes fun of the fact that it's easy to publish completely erroneous information on the Internet. Since everybody knows how easy it is to make things up online, you would probably expect customers to be skeptical of information in company blogs. However, recent surveys have shown that isn't the case.

A recent report from Blogher found that 81% of customers trust the information from online blogs. Blogging is clearly a very effective way to build trust with your customers.

Blogging Increases Exposure

Building brand exposure is just as important as generating leads. There are number of statistics that show blogging helps brands get more exposure:

• Brands with active blogs have nearly twice as many inbound links. I don't wait does this mean they have more exposure, it also means that they rank higher in the search engines. This is another important benefit, since brands generate some of their most profitable leads from organic search.
• Brands with active blogs have nearly 5 times as many indexed pages on their website.

These benefits increase with the amount of time you invest in blogging.

Data Doesn’t Lie! Start Your Blog Today!

If you aren’t blogging as part of your digital marketing strategy, then you are missing out on a lot of high, quality leads. This data shows that blogging can increase the ROI of your online marketing campaigns by 400% or more.