Are you looking for a simple way to boost website traffic, improve your standing as an expert and create a better customer experience for your visitors? It may surprise you to know that there is a simple way to achieve those things in one hit. Creating a blog or knowledge base of articles on your website will help you, your traffic, and your audience. It’s also a great way to build on the know, like and trust factors in business – and as we all know, those things are essential if you want to turn visitors into buyers.
But if you’re wondering about the differences between a blog and a knowledge base, you’re not alone. They are often a misunderstood element of marketing, which means many business owners are also missing out on the benefits you can reap from them. So if you’d like to learn how to use this one simple marketing tool, keep reading!
The differences between a knowledge base and a blog
Let’s start by looking at the differences between a knowledge base and a blog. A knowledge base is a library of pages arranged in hierarchical order with the most crucial information at the top. You use this searchable and connected collection of pages to share evergreen information about your products, services and business.
But know that they’re not the place for hard selling, and it’s about teaching, educating, building trust and answering common questions. You can have a soft call to action within them, though, such as leading visitors to your newsletter or mailing list so that you can stay in touch with potential and existing clients.
On the other hand, a blog is a series of posts or online articles in date order, with the newest at the top. Blogs tend to cover specific events, offers and topics that help raise awareness around your niche. They’re designed to encourage sales and are used to turn visitors into buyers by taking them on the journey from awareness to consideration and, ultimately, converting them into sales.
Be seen as the expert through your blog or knowledge base on your website
And that’s the beauty of both a blog and a knowledge base of articles. They enable you to be seen as the expert. You can share valuable information with existing and new visitors, using that information to help educate and entertain your audience. You want your site to be somewhere where people will return and visit frequently.
By creating a blog, you can focus on specific themes for your content – these give you content buckets from which to work. A knowledge base enables you to focus on topics by drilling into those recurring and common things your audience needs to understand to understand better what you do and why they should care about it.
They both enable you to offer self-service solutions for your audience
Both blog and knowledge base serve as a first step on the customer journey towards seeing you as their solution. They help customers understand the glossary, terminology, and technical aspects of your products and services while educating them about your niche and the problem/solutions they ultimately may need.
And they do it in a self-service kind of way. Your visitors can help themselves to the advice they need when they need it. This helps serve those visitors who aren’t yet ready to buy or aren’t sure if you’re the right solution for them and their needs just yet.
It also enables you to bring all that information into one area, rather than requiring visitors to hunt for answers throughout your website. By covering the most frequently asked questions and giving visitors essential information, you’re being more reactive with your customer service and cutting down on the need for someone to be constantly giving out the same replies to emails and live chat support.
They both keep you focused and less overwhelmed
You know what you’re talking about and why when you have clear content topics. This helps reduce overwhelm and helps keep you focused. A knowledge bank, for example, needs to answer FAQs and help educate visitors, whilst a blog will focus on specific topics around your niche. Throughout your blog posts, you’ll usually have a core range of 5-7 overarching themes that you constantly talk about.
They increase traffic and improve SEO
When it comes to traffic, both a blog and knowledge base enable you to provide useful, consistently updated content to the search engines. And this is something they love, so you’re more likely to be placed higher in the search results, which increases the traffic they send to your site.
When you provide helpful, valuable information and solutions to your visitors, they’ll return and spend more time on your site. And this is another bonus in terms of ranking and business growth.
And finally, your blog gives you ample content that can be shared on your social media platforms. This enables you to quickly create and repurpose content for your social media accounts, helping you further raise your visibility, get in front of your ideal audience and drive more traffic to your site.
If you’re looking to make an impact with your business, but need a little help, why not get in touch? We can help you create a blog or knowledge base for your business site and provide you with the support, team, and solutions you need to make it all happen. So, reach out and let’s chat – you’ll find our contact information here.
