Why Blog?

by Crissy Herron Gipson

I have heard the question “why blog?” over and over again… I can understand the reasoning behind this question. Blogging takes time, it can be difficult to think of things to write about, and if you update your site on a regular basis, what is the point?

Well, simply put, blogging builds relationships. When you have an online business, you can’t really look your customer in the eye and shake their hand. You can put a picture of yourself on your site, and they can kind of get a feel for your personality by the content you put on your site, but that’s about it. Your customers want to get a feel for who you are as a person, and the best way to go about that is to have a blog. People want to do business with people they like.

Think about your own past experiences. If given the choice between shopping at two similar stores that carry similar goods at similar prices, you’ll choose the one where you like the atmosphere and employees best. When your customer reads your blog, they get to know your personality. Now, you can keep your blog posts business related, you don’t need to tell everyone what you ate for dinner or who your neighbor is having an affair with, but you can be a bit more candid than you would in your normal business atmosphere.

Blogs are also great for gaining publicity for your website. If you list your blog in blog directories, people may stumble across your blog without even knowing your site existed. After they read a few blog posts they may check out your site and end up being your customer. You can increase your search engine rankings by linking to your site through your blog posts.

For example, if you added a new article or product to your site, write a blog post to let your readers know. Include a link to your new article or product. The search engines perform “web crawls” to count the number of links a site has, and the more links you have, the higher you will appear in the search engine rankings.

When someone performs a search for your type of business, you want to appear as high as possible in the search results, as most people will only click on the first few businesses listed.

Plus, blogging is a great way to network with other business owners and potential customers. Find some blogs that have a similar target market as your’s and leave the blogger some feedback. If you find a particular post especially informative or entertaining, let them know. Include a link to your site or blog. The person may leave you a comment on your own blog.

If you find a blog that you really like, contact the blogger and ask if they want to do a blog roll exchange with you. Their readers will see your blog listed in their blog roll and may decide to check you out.

As you can see, blogging can do a lot for your business. It can provide a virtual “meat and greet” with your customers, as well as introduce you to people who may have never known you existed otherwise…. So I guess the question isn’t “why blog?” it’s “why aren’t you blogging?”