Many bloggers, at some time or another, will tell you how important it is to blog. However, my lines are not so black and white. I believe that everyone that feels a need, or wants to blog, should, but I think it’s really a disservice to the entrepreneur when they have a blog, and not keep it updated. When I go to websites that also have a blog attached to them, and I check-out the blog, but they haven’t written in that month - I start to wonder if they’re still around.
So, here are my reasons to have a blog:
1. Search Engines love fresh content, and a blog can easily help you have that for your website - if you blog regularly. This will, thus, help your website climb over the competitors in the ‘organic’ search results (not Pay-Per-Click).
2. Blogging for your small business will also allow the entrepreneur to become a ‘person’. Often, I veiw the website as a means to sell - to get your message out there about what you provide and get visitors to buy it. A blog, however, is more subtle - it allows the reader to get to know the person behind the entrepreneur - which is a great benefit, as people buy from people.
3. Blogging also allows the entrepreneur to quickly get out news about their product/service - perhaps a new product line, or a special, or something - while traditional marketing methods take longer to get the message across (such as postcards, advertisements, etc.)
4. Blogging can also really help the entrepreneur set themselves up as the ‘expert’ in their field. As an entrepreneur, you can write articles that relate to your service/product, as well as the people and businesses you serve. For instance, with our company Blaze Interactive, I work primarily with entrepreneurs and small business owners - and I use this blog to not only show my ’softer side’ - the family, working with my husband, etc. - but also that Nirzhar and I understand the struggles entrepreneurs go through and write articles relating to that, as well as giving advice on Internet Marketing - our expertise with Blaze Interactive.
5. Blogging is fun! Okay, I’ll admit it, I love to blog. When something happens to me or our family I often jot it down to blog about it later. I’m not a professional writer, but I get to play one on the blogosphere.
6. Journalists scan blogs for ‘Experts’ to quote in their articles: do you want to be considered an expert in your field, then you better start blogging!
Okay, so that’s the reasons to blog, but here’s a check list of things to do when you are considering blogging:
1. Can I commit to blogging at least once a week - or at the very least once a month?
2. Do I have enough material to write about? Quick answer, yes you do: think FAQ, news releases, testimonials, interviews, personal stuff, etc. The list goes on…
3. Do you have a particular niche? Don’t just start another generic blog - there’s literally millions of blogs out there! You need to stand out! What is your target market, and then what’s unique about you that you can easily write about and find material for? Example: Nirzhar and I are a husband and wife team that works together as entrepreneurs. We have two small boys and a full design business. We could have created (yet another) design blog, or blog about family, or entrepreneurship, but we decided to put together entrepreneur and family together as it was unique and it was easy to find material for it.
Did you answer ‘yes’ to all of those? Then let’s get blogging! You can set-up blogs with Wordpress, Typepad or Blogger (for the new entrepreneur blogger, I recommend Blogger ) for starters - and you can also hire designers to help you make the blog unique to your business and brand.
Tags: blaze interactive, blog, blogging, brand, entrepreneur, niche, Search Engine, small business, typepad, wordpress