No, blogging isn’t for every business.  If you’re selling cows, you’re probably not going to have a lot of loyal readers to your blog (I could be wrong, of course…and think of all of the fun punny names you could come up with for it…the Bovine Beat, the Milking Machine, Utterly Informative…sorry).  But for the rest of us, there are some very compelling reasons to blog.  As I am prone to do, I have compiled a list of some of the main reasons blogging is a genuinely good business practice for many:

Build Your Brand Awareness
In talking to the head of a large marketing firm, I brought up the subject of why advertisements were headed the direction of frogs and flying chairs for beer commercials.  He said, today’s generation doesn’t want to be sold any more.  They are inundated with salesmanship on all sides from media, computers, and billboards…and they are immune to it in some cases, annoyed by it in others.  Apparently no one cares to hear you tell them how wonderful your product is anymore.  So think about it, what does your website do?  It says, here is my product or service…so wonderful, buy it!  Not the message today’s generation is looking for.  A blog on the other hand says “here is what I know and here is what I’ve heard.”  It is a soft sell with potent potential.  Ever notice that TV has started slipping products into the show (Biggest Loser is the worst offender)…they do it subtly, so you don’t fast forward your DVR…and in many cases, this form of advertising is more effective because someone is putting the product into a real life situation.

Make Your Business/Brand Personal
By showing potential customers that you know your stuff, putting your product into practical use, or making them feel they are getting a few trade secrets for free, you are building interest in your product and possibly brand loyalty.  I’m not saying you should give away the secret formula to Coke, but you should be making your reader feel they are getting something special for their time and they should be getting to know you and your product…and how it relates to them.

Get Feedback
Launching a new product? Need some customer feedback?  People love to give their opinions (of course, the question is will you be happy with what they have to say?) and a blog will give them that platform to get their point across.  But better than having them post to Trip Advisor or Yelp, where you get no editorial license, a blog will allow you to post only the comments you feel are worthwhile.  Use it to your advantage.

Better Than a Newsletter
How many of you subscribe to a website newsletter and then every time a copy lands in your inbox, you push it to the “to do” pile?  You hardly ever get to the more leisurely parts of that “to do” list, do you?  With Facebook offering RSS-Connect, browsers becoming more RSS and Atom friendly by allowing newsfeed bookmarking with a click, and short attention spans ruling the day…its is better to get one story at a time out to your clients and potential clients.  Blogs are fresh…newsletters are stale (and a pain to format and put together).  If you want to continue to collect email addresses, provide password protected content on your blog…exclusively for members only.

Search Engines Like Google LOVE them
Hey, this may not last forever, but for now Google especially seems to give some priority to blogs.  My site, that only gets indexed a couple times a month (once a month is average for most people), gets indexed a many times a day on the blog pages.  Its like Google has a sniffer for new content in WordPress, etc.  You may even see your overall site presence increase in the search engines because of your activity…hosting your own blog can make all the difference in this.

Bonus: An Inexpensive Form of SEO
Search engines love juicy keywords and good blogging software will provide search engine friendly links and keyword density.  Make sure you keep your titles enticing to viewers but also add in some keywords for great Search Engine Optimization (SEO) effect.  A good templated blog can be installed and ready for your use for less than $400.  How much do you spend on one newspaper ad, billboard, or radio advertisement?  Do they allow you to express your business’ personality or help you build loyalty?

I could come up with many more, but this is at least some food for thought (remember, I’m not supposed to give away the formula for Coke…although I think it has vanilla and cinnamon…but I digress)…

BUT BEWARE
Now the bad news.  If I have convinced you to take the plunge into the blogosphere, that is all well and good, but make sure to keep your blog active.  Readers can become loyal, but they can also be turned away from reading your blog for good if it only updates twice a year (yes this happens).  I call it the Bowflex theory…you buy something with every intention of building up…then it sits in the corner, out of sight – out of mind.

What constitutes an active blog?  Well, it would be nice to have a post a day, but I understand that you are not a blogmaster, you’re a business owner.  If you write a couple of blogs a week and upload some short posts with ongoing specials, you could have people coming to your blog to sniff out the best deals or to hear when the next sale or promotion is.  A blog doesn’t have to be War and Peace…a paragraph long blog can work wonders if it provides information of interest.  Even if you’re just linking to other articles, the fact that you are providing a hook in to this information for your readers and customers can make all the difference.   Most blogs offer a time released publishing capability…get inspired, write a bunch of blogs and then release them to the public over a couple of weeks using the timed publishing feature.

Blogging can be fun…it definitely can be informative…and it is a great soft sell sales tool.

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Drew Hannush is Owner and President of Hannush Enterprises, LLC.  He has built both an Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization website (EvolveYourSearch.com) and a successful website design firm in Hannush.com.