10/ 20/ 2005
by Steve Strauss
The Web log or “blog” is definitely the Internet flavor of the month. But even when chocolate is the flavor of the month, that doesn’t make it less tasty. Sometimes, trendy is OK, and this is one of those times.
Basically, a blog consists of an online journal discussing any and every subject and usually linking to other items or stories of related interest.
Small businesses can get a lot of value from setting up a blog, especially by creating a new profit center. But money equals just a small part of the many business blog benefits. A blog can also:
- Strengthen relationships: It is harder to get your personality across online than in the real world. But because a blog allows you to wax poetic about subjects of your choice, it allows customers and potential customers to get to know you better. Since blogs can also be used to solicit feedback from customers, you can use it as a way to increase interaction. For instance, asking for feedback via your blog may be a great way to get immediate reactions to your business, a sale, a promotion or whatever.
- Build your brand: Your blog is your voice and your words. It allows you to directly convey the image you want people to have of your business without going through the cost and diffusion that advertising and marketing require. You can, and should, incorporate the values that define your business and brand into your business blog.
- Improve customer service: Use your blog to keep customers informed of important events, sales, deadlines and so forth. Answer customers’ questions or provide valuable links to related products and services.
- Increase employee awareness: Post schedules, make announcements, crack a joke, etc. on an internal blog.
- Build your reputation: Blogging, an inexpensive marketing tool, allows you to position yourself as an expert in your field. If your blog provides cutting-edge analysis or information for people in your industry, your reputation grows.
- Bump your search engine rankings: Blogs that allow reader responses (and many do) create Web pages with valuable key words. This, in turn, raises your search engine rankings.
Is that it? No, blogging has one more benefit:
- Make money: You could sell ad space next to your blog or tap into affiliate programs and get paid for that. You could post an ad provided by affiliate programs, for instance, and receive a commission every time readers click that ad. Use Google AdSense, a service that automatically posts ads next to blogs. For every click on those “Ads Provided by Google,” you get a small amount of money.
