Business Blogging…is it important?

Is blogging helpful for business?  Should I do it?  How should I blog?  Are you asking yourself these questions?

If so you are in the right place.  I will be sharing with you my personal experience with business blogging.  This originally

became something I wanted to blog about because of an automotive dealer I was speaking to regarding Search Engine Optimization.  He was

very passionate in SEO but had very little direction.  I always suggest starting with a blog.  Trust me it’s worth it!

Lets get started….Is blogging helpful for business?  The answer as you guessed is “YES!”  As we already know, people buy from people

they a) trust and b) like.  A blog is a great way to brand yourself and build trust in your target network.  If you do this correctly you

can accomplish all of these goals.

What do businesses blog about?  Well, you could blog about the industry you are in or the company picnic.  Make your blogs personable and

funny if you can.  I know some are funnier than others so make sure others read and get your jokes before posting them in your post.

Update them on what’s going on in the office or personal or business goals you have achieved.  We do Web Design and Online Marketing.

Our goal with this blog is to gain your trust by educating you on blogging and help generate trust between you and your clients or

potential clients.

How do I blog?  I am so glad you asked!  There are free blogging options out there but if you are doing this for your business you want

it to look legit.  Go to www.wordpress.org and research that.  A domain $9 a year, hosting $9 a month, some elbow grease and you have

your product.  WordPress is a content management system that allows you to login and make content changes to your site without knowing anything

about web design.  I encourage you to offer your blogs 2 times a week or 1 time every 10 days at the least.  I understand you are busy but

it’s ok to blog about being extremely busy and not having time to blog as long as you only do that once or twice.  I would recommend getting

help from others that you work with to keep the blogs flowing.  You never know, you may have a gold mine working for you.

How can a blog help me?  We already covered trust.  I can also go in depth about how blogging will help you in search results. Without that

you can say that building trust and branding yourself is important.  Become the source of information.  It’s hard to change an image of someone

once the picture has been drawn.  What are your competitors saying about you?  You can debunk everything they say with a blog.

Be patient with your blog.  Write often.  Promote your blog on Facebook and twitter.  Tell your friends and family.  Tell your clients and

potential clients.  It will take time to grow.  You will eventually get comments if you ask for them.  Make sure you always comment back,

even if it’s just “thanks I appreciate your feedback”.  Don’t forget to offer feedburner.  Feedburner allows people to have your blogs emailed to

them after you post them.  This is a great tool so people don’t have to keep checking back and nothing being there.

Know who you are blogging for.  They may not know your lingo.  I am guilty of this.  Keep it simple.  If you have interesting information,

push it properly, and update it frequently. You should be successfully blogging with followers within 3 to 6 months.

Show personality and be real.  No one wants to read a blog from a robot.

If you have any questions feel free to ask away.