Why Blog? Two and a Half Reasons Your Small Business Success Depends on Your Answer
Why Blog? Do you like to eat?Kidding aside, here’s why leveraging your product or service with a great blog is the easiest way to build your following. You want your clients to get to know you so they know what you are selling. Competition is raging in nearly every field as thousands of people displaced from their careers are giving online business a try.As a small business owner, coach or author you have to do things differently to be noticed. That is old news. What’s new is that you have to be even more client savvy than ever before. People are being awfully careful about hitting that buy button.As John Hiler of Microcontent News says, “Just log onto the web and you’re in the Blogosphere. Geography has become irrelevant. The Blogosphere is increasingly global, and as more and more countries come online, it will become even more so.The Blogosphere is nearly free–both for bloggers and for readers. For less than the price of a cup of coffee, you can take part in the global conversation with some of the smartest and most informed people on the planet. What are you waiting for.”1. Google LOVES Blogs: Blogs are dynamic websites. Adding content every week is what makes the site get Google’s attention and gets it ranked closer to the first page.. Traditional websites are static. New material is not added every week and so even though they may be beautiful, they are not as attractive to Google.2. Your clients use Google and they are typing something into the search window that could be pointing to you. If you have enough presence on-line and they can find you! The more pages you have on line, the higher your internet presence is recognized by Google.Each blog entry is a page and you have complete control of when and how often those pages are published, you don’t have to have a web designer publish for you. (Awesome for all the control freaks out there, just sayin’)Blog Angel Tip: Don’t over do it though, two a week is considered polite in cyber-land, if you slam with 4 a week, it is considered rude and you never want to be perceived as rude on-line, it’s a neighborhood after all.3. Do you really need a number 3?Blogging is simply having a pen pal relationship with your clients or customers. The key is to have an easy format for posting. I use WordPress and have since I wrote my first blog in 2007. Once you open the door, your followers will come right in and they will let you know what they are looking for. Seriously. Nearly all of my list building is done through my blog.My blog tells me exactly what people type into the Google search window that brought them to my site. Then I write articles with that very issue, sometimes the exact question that was searched. (Google: “I Just Had Ex Sex. Now What?” and you’ll see what I mean.)I operate my entire business from a blogsite. I have a separate site for the LOAinLoveClub.com I work at getting two blogs posted a week. Some weeks I make it, some I don’t. I also send notices through Facebook and Twitter whenever I post a new blog. I have met the best people this way…clients, colleagues and mentors.If your blog experience hasn’t been fun for you, yet…. please don’t give up! It is possible to learn a few basic skills and be enjoying your blog time in no time! If I can do it…you can do it too!