You’ve heard people talking about them, seen links to them littered over the Internet, and occasionally wondered what on earth they actually are - Blogs. The fact that you are reading this, and that this is in fact a blog, means that you have certainly been exposed to at least one blog - and you are about to find out what a blog is and more importantly, how one can work for your business.

A Blog (pronounced blog, short for web log) is a small website which allows its owner (or blogger) to post entries on any subject they care to write about (blogging). A Blog might contain news or information about a niche subject, a personal diary, or a corporate means of making announcements. Just about every imaginable topic has a broad array of blogs with an army of bloggers, blogging. (blogsearch.google.com is a good starting point to begin your searching blogs.)

There are a lot of sites around for creating a blog (blogger, wordpress, typepad…), and a large number are free. The fact that blogging is freely and easily accessible by everybody means everybody can become a published writer. Everybody can have a voice - a published voice, with an audience ready to listen to what you have to say.

Why should my business care?

Your business can benefit from starting an on-line conversation in several ways…

• Start conversations with your customers. Tell them about upcoming events or promotions, new services or what your working on. Well established blogs even find their customers responding to posts with comments of their own - providing valuable feedback.

• Position yourself as an expert in your business field. Publish your thoughts, ideas or reactions to what happens in your field and establish yourself as a leading authority on your business subject. Show your customers why they should choose your business and its expertise instead of a competitor.
  

• Reach a new audience. Increase the exposure of your business, get listed in blogging directories, and reach a wider audience.

• Be your own editor. Say what you want, when you want, and however you want. Give your business a voice and start talking with your customers.

• Boost your search engine ranking. Google loves bloggers! Google loves content that is relevant and up-to-date. You’ll love being ranked higher in Google!

Tags: blog, Blogging And Your Business, business, marketing tools