I know. I know. It’s so busy this time of year. In addition to an increased workload at work, you’ve got a million things to check off your personal checklist for the holidays. Plus your normal To Dos. And apparently the dog still needs to eat.

So, I’m not encouraging you to add anything to your plate now. But if you’ve already started to think about how to rev up your business in the new year, I have one word for you: blogging.

Again: I know, I know. Blogging seems like it would be incredibly time consuming. It seems like it would be a struggle to come up with something to say. And….you really don’t want to divulge personal information.

Well, good news. Blogging even as little as twice a month can have a significant positive impact on your business. Twice a month isn’t that many topics to come up with. If you think of things people might Google when thinking of your business (e.g. which type of shampoo is best for dog’s that shed would be a question someone might ask – and something you might want to answer if you own a pet grooming business) it will be fairly easy to come up with topics. And, thankfully, as my example above shows, you don’t have to talk about anything personal. In fact, in most businesses, I’d encourage you not to.

Many people seem to have the idea that a blog is just talking about yourself. The truth is, the internet is not everyone’s personal diary. It is, however, a great place to get your business found by potential customers. By publishing new, fresh business-related content regularly to your site, you can increase the odds of someone finding you. The best place to publish that is on a blog hosted on your website.

So, blogging may not be as hard as you think. But you may still be wondering whether it is really worth any effort at all.

I can assure you: Absolutely, it is.

1. Blogging improves SEO As in the examples above, blogging gives you additional topics that people can use to find you via search. In this case, someone who is having a terrible time bathing their very hairy pooch all by themselves. If they search for which kind of shampoo to use for dogs that shed and find a very informative article on your site, they just may check to see if you’re in their area. If they are…they may have just learned to trust you as an expert. They’re likely to call you for help with their issue. Now, it’s up to you to turn that call into a sale.

2. You may get mentioned on a larger site Creating quality content that is shared on the web provides you the opportunity to get noticed by a larger publication. If they like your content, they may even link to it as a reference in an article they publish. Having your business mentioned in a large publication – like the New York Times – gives you an opportunity to increase the reach of your brand. Sites that are read by tens of thousands of people everyday are likely to encourage people to click through to your site who may never had reason to search for you previously. They may find a service they never even knew they needed. Plus, being mentioned by larger site is great for SEO.

3. Blogging keeps people on your site longer Many static sites don’t have many opportunities to keep people on site. They come, they read your overview, maybe they check your contact information. Then they leave and likely don’t come back. A blog however, not only publishes fresh content that gives users a reason to come back to your site for new information – it also provides more opportunities to link to other content on your site. This is good for SEO but also can encourage users to click through to other articles you’ve written and stay on your site longer. Users staying on your site longer is good for SEO (do you see a theme yet?) and also makes a customer more likely to convert into a sale since as they read, their trust level with you is building.

Truly business blogging can bring new customers in the door in the new year. So, it’s a great goal to have – even if it means you need to outsource some of your business blogging responsibilities in order to keep up with your normal workload.