Why Your Business Might Benefit from a Blog
January 23rd, 2008 by Liz Fuller
As many of you know, Laura Spencer and I co-author another blog, BusinessandBlogging. Lately we’ve found ourselves having a lot of discussions with readers and other bloggers about whether or not most small businesses would benefit from a blog.
It’s been rather lively. Another blogger has taken a pretty strong stance that most small businesses don’t need a blog, which is also what some blogging experts also say. On the other hand, I maintain that blogging is a low-cost marketing tool with a high potential for return. In my opinion all businesses should at least consider it as part of their overall marketing strategy.
I thought I would share some of this discussion with you, as you might find it beneficial in deciding your marketing strategy for 2008.
So, for a start, I’d like to explain some of the reasons you might want your own blog:
- It’s a quick and low-cost way to begin a presence on the internet
- It helps to establish you as an expert
- As a consultant it demonstrates some of your skills
- It brings people “behind the scenes” of your business, making them feel connected
- It builds a relationship with potential clients
- It is a great networking tool both online and offline
- It is a great icebreaker
- It helps you to find your voice and unique selling proposition
- It can get your site greater SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- It’s more dynamic than a static website
What other benefits do you see? Which would you like to know more about? Let me know.
In my next post, I’ll discuss some of the reasons why you wouldn’t want a blog.
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 at 12:53 pm and is filed under blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Great post Liz! Blogging may not be the first thing that comes into a small business owner’s mind, but it is definitely an inexpensive and effective way to communicate with your customers.
January 25th, 2008 at 1:44 am
How about this for a benefit…
- It lets you run promotions with believable scarcity, to increase sales.
I first saw this on James Brausch’s blog, where he regularly runs 24 hour discounts on his products.
It works great. The reason it works is that it’s believable. People are used to seeing countdown scripts on salesletters etc, and most people have learnt not to believe them. But if you offer a discount for 24 hours on your blog, and people can look on the blog and see that you were truthful about it, and stopped offering it after 24 hours, then they will rush to get it next time you offer a discount.
Duncan
January 25th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Hi Duncan
That’s an interesting idea. And it would give people a reason to check in regularly. I’ll have to check out James Brausch’s blog to see how he does it - appreciate the tip.
Liz