Does a blog help a small business get more customers?

Most small business blogs look the same: three posts from 2022, one about the new van, then silence. No wonder owners think blogging doesn't work.

The blog wasn't the problem. The posts were. Here's the kind that brings in customers, why, and what it takes.

Why do most small business blogs get no traffic?

Because nobody was searching for them. Ahrefs looked at about 14 billion pages and found that 96.55% get no traffic from Google at all (Ahrefs, 2023). A post called "Welcome to our new blog!" is going to be in that 96.55%.

The other reasons are dull and common:

• The post answers nothing. News, announcements and "5 reasons to choose us" are about you. People search for things that are about them.
• It was written once. Three posts, then nothing. Search rewards a site that keeps getting more useful.
• It's thin. A paragraph and a stock photo doesn't answer anything well enough to be the answer.

What kind of blog post brings in customers?

An answer page. One real question per page, answered properly, by someone who knows.

Think about what people ask you on the phone. That's the list:

• "How much does it cost to replace a water heater?"
• "Do you cut curly hair?"
• "Can I get a cake by Friday?"
• "Do I need planning permission for a garden room?"

Each of those is a search somebody is typing right now, usually with a wallet nearby. A page that answers it well, with your real prices, your real process and your name at the bottom, puts you in front of them at the exact moment they're deciding.

Google says as much. Its guidance asks you to "think about the words that a user might search for" (Google SEO starter guide), and its ranking systems aim to "prioritize helpful, reliable information that's created to benefit people", with extra weight on content that shows first-hand expertise (Google Search Central). A plumber explaining what a water heater swap really involves has first-hand expertise. A generic content farm doesn't.

Do AI assistants like ChatGPT read blogs too?

They do. When someone asks ChatGPT or Google's AI answers "how much does a kitchen remodel cost near me", the reply is built from pages that answer that question clearly. The same shape that works for search works there: the question in the title, a short answer up top that makes sense on its own, the details underneath. (This very page is written that way. Hello.)

How long does a blog take to bring in customers?

Months, not days. Google's own guide says some changes "could take several months" to show up in search (Google SEO starter guide). That's why we start marketing with three months: search takes that long to show which way it's going.

The good news is that answer pages keep working. A page about what a boiler service costs can still bring calls years after it was written, as long as you keep the prices current.

How often should a small business blog?

Steady beats busy. Two good answer pages a month is plenty for most local businesses: one question, answered well, every couple of weeks. Twenty-four pages a year, each one a door into your site for a different search.

What matters more than frequency:

1. Pick questions real customers ask. Your inbox and your phone beat any keyword tool (and they're free).
2. Answer in the first two sentences. Then explain. Nobody wants to scroll past your life story to find a price.
3. Use real numbers and real photos. Your prices, your jobs, your area.
4. Link to the next step. Every answer ends with how to book, call or ask.
5. Look at the numbers monthly. Which pages got visits, which got calls, which questions to answer next.

Can I write my own blog?

Absolutely, and if you enjoy writing, you should. Block an hour every other week, answer one question you heard that week, and publish it. That's the whole method.

Most owners we talk to don't, for the obvious reason: by the time the day's work is done, nobody wants to write about water heaters. That's where we come in.

How does Sitestove do it?

We call it Answer pages, and it's one of the ways we help the phone ring more. From $1,000 a month:

• About two pages a month that answer what your customers type into Google, written with your input. You tell us what people ask; we turn it into pages that answer it properly.
• A monthly report, because we promise the work and show you the numbers.
• Three months to start, because search takes that long to show which way it's going, then month to month.

The ground rules, same as everything we do: no bought links, because Google treats them as spam. No ranking promises, because nobody controls Google. And no lock-in.

Answer pages sit on top of a Sitestove website, $150 a month, which is already built for search: fast pages, clear titles and descriptions, and your business details marked up so Google and AI assistants can read them. If you'd like more than answers, there's also Get mentioned (listings in the directories and associations that matter, from $1,000, then $500 a month), Campaigns (Google and Facebook ads pointed at pages made for them, from $1,000 a month plus ad budget) and Tools like a price calculator built into your site (from $3,500 one time). All of it is on the home page.

Don't have the website yet? Start there. Pick one we already made, like these for trades and home services, or send us your current site and we'll send back a better one.