A Business Blog: 6 Reasons Why You Need One

October 8th, 2009 | by BillEgan |

Is organic search important for your website?

Are you serious about developing your business on the internet?

Do you want to engage with potential customers and attract them   to your sales funnel.

If so, one of the best marketing tools to do this is through a blog.

Many people say – I don’t have time, I like the idea in theory but  it’s too time consuming. Here are 6 good reasons why you should make the time and include it in your marketing budget – blogging    is a serious marketing tool and must be budgeted for if you are to use it successfully in business. This applies both to small businesses and to larger enterprises.

What Is A Blog?

A blog is basically a web site that is an online journal of news and commentary on topics of interest to your customers and prospects. The content can contain, text, graphics, pictures and videos. It can exist standalone or as a section of a corporate website.

What is the Bloghosphere?

The Blogosphere is the collective community of all blogs. Discussions in the “Blogosphere” are frequently used by the media as a gauge of public opinion on various issues.

According to comScore MediaMetrix  in August 2008 there were 77m unique visitors to blogs in 2007 compare to 41m Facebook visitors. This means that collective the blogosphere is huge.

Why Is A Blog A Strategic Online Marketing Tool?

A company can be all over the Internet, but if it is not found online in its industry niche by influencers, potential buyers and customers, it will have little impact on the bottom-line sales generated.

A blog can be used to provide relevant information of interest to business decision makers in it’s market niche and can be the means to generate a competitive advantage in it’s chosen market.

Why Should you  Invest in a Business Blog?

Blogging is a serious marketing tool on the internet and just like other marketing tasks it need sustained focus and attention

If you allocate time you will reap major benefits in terms of attracting relevant prospects and customers.

Here are 6 reasons why it makes sense:

1. To Drive Traffic To Your Website

Blogs are perfect for SEO. A company website is normally quite static and has little need for frequent content changes. However a regularly updated blog provides fresh, keyword-rich content that search engines love to index.

Newly published content in a frequently updated blog will be indexed in a matter of minutes after it is published.

This will cause your site to rank higher when potential customers search for your products and services and drive more traffic to your entire website.

2. To Build Relationships With Customers & Prospects

A company blog offers opportunities to communicate with your customers and prospects in a unique way through the comment area in each post. While marketing programs can generally only send one-way messages, a blog forms a two-way communication channel.

Building this relationship can enhance confidence and trust in your company. It can be a means to ensure that potential customers stay on your radar until they are ready to buy and select you as a preferred vendor when they start searching for a new supplier

3. To Become an Industry Thought Leader

Blogs can communicate information and act to educate customers. By sharing what you know, think and believe you will educate your prospects and if done properly can help position you as a knowledgeable expert in your industry.

4. To Improve Press Relationships

If your blog gains industry authority, you will have create a channel that media regularly check to find out what you have to say. The result is bound to be more positive media coverage you and your business.

5. To Test Ideas Or Products

A blog is informal. People can comment on new products or services and can provide you with feedback and a means for early market testing.

Also you can use a blog to publish an idea or concept to see what interest it generates.

6. To Alert You To Problems

A blog can help reveal a small problem before it turns critical by providing an instant-feedback mechanism from readers

You can receive instant feedback from them on your products, services, marketing efforts, customer support, and other topics.

This is more immediate and less expensive than using surveys or focus groups.

Have you any other suggestions on this topic?

Please give your comments and let us know your views