By Josh Sommers, Posted: January 22, 2010 –
Do you want to increase awareness of your business in the marketplace? Would you like to position yourself as an expert in your industry? Are you looking for a new way for prospects to find your Web site?
If your answer is affirmative on just one of the above questions, a blog can be a great tool for your business.
Just in case you are not entirely sure what a blog is, don’t be embarrassed. Wikipedia defines a blog as “a type of Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. ‘Blog’ can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.”
We see blogs everywhere on the Internet. In fact, there are more than 100 million of them out there.
Starting a blog is easy. There are many user-friendly blog hosting sites, like blogspot.com and wordpress.com, where you can set up a blog for free. If you use Facebook, setting up a blog and maintaining it is just as easy.
Posting frequently is key
If you are looking to leverage a blog for increased business, start one about your industry. Write entries that will appeal to potential customers. And post regularly. If you just write a new blog entry once a month, that’s not going to give you results. Daily or weekly posts will give real reasons for Web visitors to come back often or to subscribe.
If your blog takes off, the opportunity to get noticed as an industry expert awaits, particularly if your subjects and advice are impartial and not self-serving. For example, if you keep posting regular blogs that people should hire you and not your competition; your blog won’t have any credibility. Instead, offer advice, reviews and analysis of news and trends. Be the expert for people wanting to know more about your industry. Doing so will mean more traffic to your blog, which in turn is a step in the right direction for new business.
Blogs also can help with optimizing your Web site for search engines. Lots of content that gets updated frequently is good for search engine spiders looking for you. A successful search marketing strategy is to embed your blog right into your Web site. Constant blog entries about your industry and current events loaded onto your Web site will drive traffic and broaden your organic search reach on sites such as Yahoo! and Google.
That’s just scratching the surface about the potential blogging offers. Look for more on blogs in future columns.
Josh Sommers is president and CEO of Focus Media, a leading Hudson Valley advertising and public relations agency. He can be reached at josh@advertisingandpr.com or 294-3342, ext. 303.
