Claims that blogging is dead have been doing the rounds for a while.

The argument is that nobody has time to read anymore. Even if they did, they would prefer to look at pictures or, better still, videos, preferably of cats.

If they don’t like watching Felix having his tummy rubbed, they’re more likely to listen to a podcast, which they can combine with going for a run, a visit to the gym or their commute, rather than slogging through boring old text.

While there’s no doubt that there is more competing content than ever before, and that people’s preferred ways of consuming information are changing, blogging should still play a role in your B2B marketing strategy.

Here are 9 reasons why you should still blog followed by our top tips on how to make your blog efforts pay off.

1. Blogging is the third most common content marketing strategy, after video and eBooks, and is the fifth most trusted source for accurate online information. (HubSpot)
2. Businesses that blog get 55% more website visitors than businesses that don't. (HubSpot)
3. Marketers who prioritized blogging received 13X more ROI than companies that did not in 2019. (HubSpot)
4. Blogs can result in a 434% increase in indexed pages and a 97% increase in indexed links. (DemandMetric)
5. Companies with blogs produce an average of 67% more leads monthly than companies that don't blog. (DemandMetric)
6. 70% of people would rather learn about a company through articles rather than advertisements. (DemandMetric)
7. Companies who blog receive 97% more links to their website. (HubSpot)
8. B2B marketers that use blogs receive 67% more leads than those that do not.
9. 47% of buyers consume three to five pieces of content before making a purchase decision. (HubSpot)

So, hopefully we’ve convinced you that blogging is worth the effort. Here are 10 tips on how to write a good B2B tech blog

1. Start with why. How are you helping the customer achieve their pain points or solve their goals? Don’t start typing until you’ve got the answer.
2. Would you read it if you were a customer? This can be a painful question to ask, which is why it is worth asking. If the answer is no, why not? Is there better content out there? Can the customer get what they want through some other more convenient means? You can save a lot of time by identifying blog posts that don’t need to be written.
3. Can you write the definitive piece on a topic? Your return on investment time-wise will be far greater if you can write a piece of evergreen content that people will return to for years, rather than something that may as well be deleted the following day because it is no longer relevant.
4. Break it up. If you include bold headlines, lists, bullets, pictures and videos, people will barely notice they’re reading at all. Options include screenshots, charts, polls and calculators. You can also the font, colour and size of your text. Go crazy.
5. Inject some personality and a unique perspective. Nobody wants to read something that sounds like a textbook or an instruction manual. A bit of emotion and humour never hurt.
6. Educate, don’t sell. Educating will give you the right to sell later.
7. Go long. Articles with at least 3,000 words generated 3X more traffic, 4X more shares, and 3.5X more backlinks than short-form articles (SEMRush).
8. Blog often. According to HubSpot, business bloggers that blog 20 times per month generate 5x more traffic than those that blog 4x per month.
9. Include a call to action. You are writing the blog because you want your audience to do something. Don’t forget to tell them what it is.
10. Was it useful? Ask your reader at the end, otherwise you’ll never know.