If you are a business owner with a website and you’re not blogging….you’re missing out!

 I’ve heard all the typical objections…

“Blogging is for teenagers.”

“Why would I want to put my life up on the web?”

“I already have a website, why do I also need to blog?”

“I don’t know what to blog about.”

“I won’t be able to tell if anyone is reading my blog anyway.”

Ok…so now I’m hoping to smash all those objections.  Blogging is a powerful, budget-friendly, real-time way to instantly market your website, your company and most importantly, yourself!  If you have a website, then you know it can be cumbersome and time consuming to update that site…and if you’re not the one doing the updates, then you’re paying someone else a pretty penny to do it for you.  Blogging gives internet goers a chance to get a glimpse of you and your company’s personality.  Blogs also have the ability to give your website the feeling of being multi dimensional.  Even the best of web designers are not mind readers and it’s impossible for them to recreate your individual personality on the web on a constant basis.  And marketing is about consistency.

 Below are a few ways that you can put your blog to work for you and start dismissing the above objections…

• Feature a Client or Talk About a Project You Just Finished 
• Highlight a Vendor or a Strategic Partner  
• Introduce a New Product or Service  
• Tell a Story of How You Helped Solve a Problem for Another Client 
• Talk About Your Industry or Market Trends (use this one sparingly) 
• Talk About an Event you Recently Attended
• Something New You Learned
• Free Tips, Tricks and Ideas 

Tips and Reminders… 

1. Don’t forget to advertise your blog!
2. Make sure your blog is an accurate representation of your business or profession.
3. Keep it short and to-the-point.
4. Make sure people reading your blog know how to find you or your company.  Include links, contact info or have a profile attached to it.
5. Allow others to comment on your blog.  You can always remove unwanted comments.
6. Start reading other blogs and know what your competition is talking about.  Also, this can give you some great ideas for your own blog. 
7. Check your analytics!  Blogging isn’t just about throwing words out there.  You need to know how people got to your blog, how long they stayed and what links they clicked on.  Most blogging tools have this capability built in.