Does a Blog Make Sense for Your Business?
ByClick the arrow to listen to Jan Marie Dore reading this article
Everywhere you turn there is a new technology to learn. Web logs (called blogs for short) are among the latest developments that have become very popular in the past few years.
Blogs are the biggest outbreak of information since the internet began. According to Business Week “Blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They’re a prerequisite.”
If you’re thinking about blogging for business, how can you be sure it won’t just be a waste of your precious time?
A blog can be used to develop a good, two-way relationship with prospects and clients and really connect with them. Blogs are a great way to engage your audience into two-way conversation instead of the old one-way conversation of a website. By inviting comments, you open the door to a dialogue, which in turn can lead to long lasting relationships with clients.
A blog can position you as an expert in your topic area. Business blogs can provide a commentary, opinion and advice on a specialized subject. As you regularly post and add content to your blog, over time it can raise your status and visibility in your area of expertise.
Blogs give you the opportunity to give your readers up to the minute news in your industry. That way, you can be seen as the ‘go to’ person on your specialized topic.
Having a blog will raise your profile and potentially get you noticed by the media and search engines. Blogging done right can enhance your business reputation and build your platform. It can be a huge boon to your business.
Is a blog the best use of your time right now?
There’s a downside to starting a blog. It requires a significant investment of time and making posts and keeping current in your specialty in order to stand out as a market leader. It also takes time to build readership and a community of people around your area of focus.
But, blogs are inexpensive to launch and can be easy to maintain. A blog can be managed in as little as an hour a week. You can write three short, concise posts and perhaps a longer article all at the same time and schedule them to go out every other day.
And, if you plan a strategy for growth over twelve months, before you know it you’ll be a top expert in your field from all the reading and writing you’ve done and you’ll have lots of readers.
The cost of publishing your valuable information is next to nothing. All it takes is some of your time – and you can delegate much of that.
If you are passionate about communicating on a subject you love, a blog is a great outlet to share your interest and your distinctive voice and spread your enthusiasm. Share your thoughts, insights and opinions and invite people to respond.
Publish, share, and influence. What could be more fun or more meaningful than that?
Copyright © Jan Marie Dore ~ www.femalepreneurs.com ~ All rights reserved.
Jan Marie Dore, ‘The Professional Women’s Success Coach’, Master Certified Coach, Speaker, and Author, publishes valuable ideas to grow a professional service business and increase profitability in her newsletter ‘Success Secrets for Solo-Professional Women’. Jan Marie teaches self-employed female professionals to attract more clients and financial success, and as a result, live extraordinary lives. For free resources and programs on marketing a professional practice please visit Femalepreneurs.com and read the Blog Success Secrets for Solo-Professional Women
FOR SOLO-PROFESSIONAL WOMEN
Get instant Access to Jan’s audio class “Seven Steps to Leverage Your Expertise into a Highly Profitable Business”.
You’ll also receive Jan’s “Success Secrets for Entrepreneurial Women” - inspiring, practical business growth tips delivered directly to your inbox so you can make a bigger difference with your message and your mission.
Sign up with complete confidence! We will never sell, rent, lease, or otherwise share your information with anyone.
Jan,
Nice post – you are right in all things. Blogs are great ways to establish/create/reinforce credibility, expertise, and passion. SEO benefits are good and for journalists or others searching for relevant info (especially through tools like Google alerts), blogs are great ways to post relevant content on a continual basis. You are right in that it is an investment.
Two suggestions I will add:
(1) make blog post titles rich in keyword content – don’t just write a blog post that’s titled “My Daily Thoughts”. Typically, that blog title makes its way into the URL of each unique post. SEO experts tell me that having key words in the URL helps a great deal, so don’t waste that title.
(2) create unique articles regularly but don’t be afraid to use a post or two to direct people to another article of good value. That saves you from having to write unique articles each time, you get to show a little “luv” to other bloggers, and it shows your readers that you know where all the good information is on the web.
Also, the use of Twitter and Facebook provide great tools acting as magnets toward your web blog. Tweet about them or set up your FB page to automatically pull in your blog post as a note. Easy ways to alert your friends and community to what you have to say.
-Randy
Great suggestions Randy – thanks!