Apr

7 Top Reasons to Create a Blog for Your Business

I postponed creating a blog until last summer, when a co-author Debra Oakland turned me on to WordPress. It was easy to learn and navigate.

What is a blog?

Blog stands for “web log.” It is a website that allows you to write on topics of personal interest and of interest to your clients and niche market(s). Wired claims that “nine blogs are created every minute and 2.3 content updates are posted every second.”

You’d be surprised by how many websites you go to are actually blogs. WordPress had made the look of blogs rival, even surpass web sites created with Dream Weaver, Front Page and other web design software programs..

Here are the 7 top reasons to create a blog for your business:

Add Content in Minutes – If you’ve hired a webmaster in the past, you know how long it takes him or her to update your site. Creating your blog allows you to eliminate waiting around to get on someone else’s schedule. You can add posts, images, videos and pages in minutes, not days, weeks, or months.
Easy to Set Up, Customize & Change Design – WordPress blogs enjoy thousands of templates, plugins and widgets to choose from. You can test them out to see immediately how they will be viewed by visitors. It’s like plug-and-play.
Search Engine Optimization – WordPress does all the work internally so that Google, Yahoo and other search engines can find your blog quickly and easily. For example, by adding keywords (called tags) to your URL’s, pages and posts, more people can find you, faster.
RSS Feeds & Email Subscriptions – Really simple syndication (RSS) and email subscriptions allow people and media to get updates when you have made a change in your website. Instead of having to create a Constant Contact newsletter and email list, this is done for you. Syndication is a great viral marketing methods that attracts visitors fast.
Web 2.0 – You may have seen reference to Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. One of the main benefits of a Web 2.0 blog to your business is that you can have 2-way conversations with your customers and prospects. Invite clients to comment on your posts. Include polls and surveys to keep interest high. Use your blog as the hub of your online money-making wheel. Social media, commenting strategies, teleseminars and other marketing strategies are the spokes that can drive traffic to your blog.
Make Money – There are many ways to make money with your blog. Here are four: Google Adsense ads, affiliate programs, membership sites, special events and selling your own products and services. There are plugins and widgets that make adding these to your site super easy.
Instantaneous – When you have your finger on the pulse of your niche market, you can offer “how to” tips and solutions that will have immediate results. For example, a colleague created a “how to” video, posted it on his site, put a couple of tweets on Twitter, and got over 3,500 hits on his site in less than 3 hours.