It may not feel like it but blogs have a relatively short history. The very first blog is believed to have been created in 1994 by a Swarthmore College student named Justin Hall. He used it to share his personal life stories. At the time, he did not even call it a blog but his personal homepage. A few years later others joined him in writing these online diaries and the term “weblog” was born. The blogs of the 20th century were few and far between and were nothing like what we see today.

It was in the early 2000s that blogs blew up in popularity. In only a few years, the number of blogs grew from only 23 in 1999 to over 50 million by the middle of 2006. Now, blogs are ubiquitous and an integral part of any online presence.

Marketing-wise, blog writing remains an easily-accessible and powerful tool to drive passive traffic. According to website design specialists, businesses who use blogging as a marketing tactic get 55% more traffic to their websites. Moreover, blogs nowadays are richer and more flexible than ever before. We can incorporate a variety of formats (such as videos) to create more engaging content and integrate them with our social media channels to expand our reach even further.

It’s not all about direct marketing gains though. There are other benefits to consistent content marketing even if you run a non-profit organization. In this article, we share a few of them with you.

1. It Improves Your Website Maintenance

Almost all companies who don’t blog regularly have one thing in common: an outdated website. We see it far too often. Websites that have been put together haphazardly only to exist, or ones that were up to the standards of their time, but have long been abandoned. These sites are more of a liability than an asset for their owners.

A website is like a living plant. It needs to be pruned and nurtured to establish firm roots and grow. Keeping a steady flow of content to your website makes you check in with it more regularly. And since website design and usage trends change rapidly, you’ll be paying more attention to things that may have gone wrong over time or need updating. It is about keeping your website fresh and alive. On the technical side of things, you will be far more likely to notice things like slow page speed, poor navigation, broken links, out-of-date plugins, and so on.

2. It Makes You Better at What You Do

The very first people who gain benefits from creating high-quality content are the creators themselves. When you educate others, you learn more because you have to learn about a subject well enough to be able to teach it to others.

Moreover, producing content regularly pushes you to stay on top of the latest trends and subjects in your industry. It helps you remain aware of the competition, and incorporate new tools, concepts, and strategies in your current processes.

3. It Hones Your Brand Voice

Sometimes we get so caught up in the quantifiable business aspects of marketing tools that we forget about why they exist in the first place. Content is all about communication. Every piece of content you share unfolds another page of your story as an organization. It keeps the communication open between you and your existing customers. And it attracts new like-minded people as you convey your core values, mission, vision, and responsibilities.

You can gradually and consistently build rapport and trust with your audience by educating them or helping them in other ways that provide value and alleviate pain points (top-of-the-funnel content). You can elevate yourself and your organization’s authority by voicing your expert views and opinions on matters that are related to what you do (thought leadership content). The beauty of this approach is that since it focuses on depth, you will attract and engage the attention of your target audience more effectively which boosts your organic traffic and generates higher quality leads.

4. It Helps Enrich Your Talent Pool

In a logical extension of the previous entry, high-quality content marketing helps you attract better talent. Top-tier talent is attracted by top-tier talent. By expressing your corporate culture, you will incentivize like-minded people to come to join your cause. What creative person does not want to work in an environment that fosters creativity? People want to work with an organization that is in sync with their values. In addition, if you can position yourself as a dominant leader in your field, top talents will seek you out to get involved with you and further their careers.

In the end, content is information made available. It has the potential to build relations, cause positive change, and conceive new ideas. From the business perspective, it helps you communicate the intrinsic value of your offerings, generate more leads, close more sales, and puts your company on the map.