Blogging
Should you or should you not start a Blog? That’s the question on many small business owners’, professionals, entrepreneurs, marketing directors, C.E.O.’s and book authors minds these days. And the answer is as varied as all the Blogs in cyberspace.
In case you don’t know, Blogs are web logs, often compared to an online diary, that are updated regularly, sometimes daily. Even if you’re aware of Blogs, you may have thought they were reserved for your teenagers … think again!
There are over 9 million Blogs out there, with 40,000 new ones popping up each day. Microsoft, Cisco, Sun Microsystems and IBM now have their own Blog. So do many surprising bloggers, such as hospitals, charities, organizations, small business owners, lawyers, retailers, coffee houses and PR firms. This is how big creating on-line logs and communities has become.
Some Blogs are just plain silly. Assuming that 99.9% aren’t worth reading, leaves you with at least 40 new ones that are and which could be talking to your customers or engaging your employees. So, what does all this mean for your business?
Blogs have evolved into the latest approach to web content. Some have even replaced the ever-popular newsletter/E-zine or become an addition to it. Whether blogging is a here-today, gone-tomorrow fad proves to be a new way of communicating with customers – either existing or potential – remains to be seen, and deserves further investigation.
Many companies who struggle to keep their website content fresh and attractive think Blogs are the solution. Innovative content is becoming a must for online businesses, both to be found by search engines and to give visitors a reason to return (and buy).
Business Blogs let companies give customers industry news and tell them how their products can be beneficial. And the fact that copy is updated weekly or daily increases the chances that search engines will find your site. Plus you can link your blog with your facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube accounts to gain more exposure and drive traffic to your website.
So are you ready to jump on the Blog bandwagon?
Before you set one up for your business, here are a few things to consider:
You must set a schedule and stick to it. Tell your readers what to expect and when to expect it. Blogs can direct attention to areas of your business that you want to showcase. You manage the content, but let your readers and customers guide you and in some cases, post content.
Blogs may or may not be for you, but you can’t afford to ignore them, because they’re changing how businesses communicate. Whether or not you opt to create one, keep in mind that ideas circulate at warp speed and customers are always out there – sniffing around for deals. Thousands of companies are looking at ways to collect ideas from blogs, dust ads into them, and even determine what their competitors are up to.
To your success,
