by Brandon Cornett 

Are you a business owner trying to figure out the whole blogging thing? Have you been wondering if it’s worth your time and effort to create a blog for your own business? By the end of this article, you’ll understand the many benefits and will be better able to decide if blogging is right for you.

Let’s start with a quick definition, just so we are all on the same page. A blog is simply a content-management system that allows you to publish information onto the Internet, quickly and easily. New information is typically added in reverse-chronological format, so that the most recent posts are always up top. The blogging program does most of the technical stuff for you.

10 Reasons to Start Blogging for Your Business

That’s about as far as I’ll go into the technical definition. You’ll learn more about the inner workings if and when you decide to start a blog for your business. This purpose of this article is to give you some good reasons to make that decision. So without further ado…

1. Easy Publishing Tool

Type your post for the day. Add some hyperlinks or images with the click of your mouse. Hit the “publish” button. You’ve just updated your blog with new information, and it’s live on the Internet. Once you install the program, it really is this easy to use.

2. Search Engine Visibility

Starting a blog will not magically propel you to the top of the search engine ranks, as many people seem to believe. But with that being said, a blog has certain benefits that help with search rankings. It’s easy to publish new content for one thing, and this is key to online visibility. Also, blogs are text-rich and cleanly coded right “out of the box,” so the search engines have an easy time crawling through them and finding new information.

3. Expertise / Authority

If you as the business owner can demonstrate your expertise within your industry, people will be more inclined to purchase your products or services. By publishing quality information on a regular basis, you can more easily establish such authority. In other words, you can use blogging to position yourself as a “thought leader” in your industry.

4. Makes Your Website Sticky

Who wants to revisit a website that never updates its content? Not me. This is another area where a business blog can benefit you. If you have a wealth of useful content on your website, and that content gets updated regularly, your visitors will stick around longer. This increases the chance they will contact you, purchase from you, subscribe to your newsletter, etc.

5. Potential for Conversation

Most blogging programs come with a comment feature built in. At the bottom of each post, readers can leave comments in a box provided for that purpose. So instead of the one-way communication of a traditional website (where I talk and you listen), you now have a two-way conversation taking place. You can probably see the business-building potential of this.

6. Potential for Leads

Can you generate leads and inquiries through a blog? Sure you can. We just talked about the two-way conversations that often takes place. When people fill out that comment form, they usually include their email address. There’s a lead source right there. People will also feel like they know you after reading your blog for a while, so they’ll be more inclined to contact you directly.

7. Return Visits

Blogging programs make it easy for people to stay in touch. For example, your visitors / readers can simply subscribe to your blog’s syndication feed to receive future updates automatically. There are also programs available that can convert your posts into an email newsletter format. That way, people can sign up to receive future posts just like signing up for any other e-newsletter. It’s a handy tool that can keep people coming back over and over again.

8. Versatility / Multipurpose

I already mentioned how you can use a certain type of “plugin” to allow readers to subscribe. In reality, there is a mind-boggling array of plugins available that can do all sorts of neat things. How you use your business blog is limited only by your imagination. Use it as a news add-on to your existing website, or use it as a full-featured website with pages in addition to posts.

9. Encourages Trust

Let’s face it. Consumers naturally distrust unfamiliar companies. And who can blame them? People hear the word “corporate” and think of Enron-like characters plotting schemes that screw the little guy while lining their own pockets. It’s a harsh reality, but a reality nonetheless.

How does a blog fit into this? Well, it makes you seem like a person instead of a company, for one thing. It shows you’re not afraid to step into the spotlight and speak with people about your business and your products. This is one of the reasons people like Bill Marriott (of the hotel chain) have started blogs in recent years.

10. Dare I Say Fun?

Do you enjoy sharing information about topics you know well? Do you like to write? Are you interested in web technologies and seeing your words published live on the Internet? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, there’s a good chance you will truly enjoy blogging. Who knows … you may even become addicted.

About the Author: Brandon Cornett uses his SEO Consultant Blog to provide Internet marketing advice to small business owners. To learn more about this topic, or to contact the author, please visit http://www.austinseoguy.com/seo-tips/

This post is part of our blogging tips series for business bloggers.

“At the end of the day, we must learn to think outside the box and leverage our knowledge capital to come up with value-added solutions that are robust and scalable.”

Do you hate this kind of buzzword-driven gibberish as much as I do? Well, guess what. We are not alone. This kind of language has only one purpose — to impress the reader / listener with the speaker’s / writer’s grasp of corporate lingo. It is NOT, however, an effective way to communicate.

Nor does this kind of writing style have any place on your business blog.

Look at the most successful business blogs online today (the ones with the most traffic, the most comments, and the most buzz). One thing they have in common is the blogger’s ability to speak plainly, as if speaking to a friend. Their blog writing styles may vary, but they all get to the point quickly. Of course, this isn’t the only reason these bloggers do well. You also need something interesting to say. But saying it clearly and effectively certainly helps!

The Elements of Style is a writing guidebook that’s popular among fiction writers. But many of the lessons can be applied to blog writing as well. For example, take a look at one of my favorite gems, the call to omit needless words. In the before-and-after examples, you can easily imagine corporate jargon being revised in the same way. And so much the better!

Your business blog has the potential to break down walls between you and your audience. In turn, this can help you attract new customers and grow your business beyond your expectations. But your blog will not succeed in this way if it’s full of corporate speak.

We all have different blog writing styles because we are all individuals. I’m not saying we should all think, write and communicate the same. I’m saying that people will respond to your blog more favorably if you strip away the “fluff” and speak to them like a human being. That’s the essence of a strong blog writing style.

Related tips: Writing Clearly and Simply