•   01/01/1970 10:00 am
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  • Technobabble

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Have you been thinking you should be blogging but are not sure if it will provide value?  Then keep on reading to understand the value of a blog to your business.
Google, and other search engines, love real content.  Especially when it is updated regularly and remains relevant to the rest of the web site but there is more to your blog then getting search engine traffic your way.  Here are 5 more good reasons:
 
You become an expert source of knowledge to your visitors
How often have you turned to a friend when seeking a recommendation?  You do so because you know them well and trust their input.  Applying this to your blog strategy we can say that helpful and useful content leads to trust, that trust generates leads and from those qualified leads you can generate sales and repeat business.
 
Benefit from collaborative authoring
Blogs can be authored by many people and the experience and viewpoint from each person can add extreme value to the content you write.  It also means that maintaining the blog is not the sole responsibility of one person.  Share posting duties amongst the people in your business and see just how much further your audience reach becomes.
 
Qualify your leads
Completing a sale or closing a deal is much easier when your lead has been qualified.  A visitor that has been reading your web will know a great deal about your business, product or service.
 
Build a community through interaction
Open your blog to public comments and encourage discussion.  Public comments can still be limited to registered readers to stop post spamming.  What better way to know your customers then by actively interacting with them.
 
Continual self education
When producing content for your blog you will become a lot better at explaining your products and services for a general audience.  You will need to research and stay up to date, and at times in front of your peers.  By way of being an expert your business will become the de-facto for every question your customers have.
 
 
Some tips to consider:
 
» Make time to produce quality content or consider hiring a professional writer. A stale blog can be worse than not having a blog at all. » Plan post ideas in advance and vary their content. » Review, review and review all content. Sloppy typos do not look good! » Establish a tone that is consistent to your brand. » Embrace all forms of social media appropriate to your business. » Accept comments and feedback directly on your blog. Do not fear and hide from your visitors interaction.