Why Should I Blog?

Blogs originated as a publishing system that allowed individuals to quickly and simply write, publish and distribute their opinions on the internet on whatever subject they wished.  They have now been converted into a hugely business marketing effective tool.

If you are not using blogging for marketing purposes for your business, you are missing out on an opportunity to attract prospects.  With your blog, you can target a particular subject matter or focus on a particular niche market.  There are several reasons why blogging can be beneficial to your business.

1.  You need no technical expertise to write a blog. You can add posts or pages with no need for a web designer; and you can update a blog page or add new blog posts yourself at any time.

2.  Those who read your blog posts can respond and you can see who shares interests with you.  Your blogs can open conversations with potential prospects. The perfect start to developing a relationship and a network!

3.  Blogs are automatically organized in chronological order and are structured in such a way to make them perfect for visitors and Search Engines alike.  Search Engines can find the type of content they love and improve your ranking on Google and other search engines.

4.  When we use the blog format on IBOToolbox, for instance, we need not be concerned about how our blogs are distributed.  IBOToolbox, and some other blogging sites, distributes them for us.  If you are not yet a member of IBOToolbox, you can join here: http://www.ibotoolbox.com/invited.aspx?jid=11454.  Then begin using it to promote your blogs and much more.

5.  Blogs thrive when we include links to our websites and refer to other articles so that conversations, ideas, relationships and networks can develop.  They can then spread throughout the internet, “go viral.”  Since I began writing blogs and included links to my Xpress Healthcare business (http://julie.joinxpress.com/business.html), they have driven far more visitors to my websites.  This in turn has provided better positioning and improved search engines ranking for my websites, resulting in increased lead generation.

6.  Every blog post has its own individual address.  So, you can refer to your blogs in forum posts and emails.  By using your blog website address on social networking sites, you are adding even more ways to promote your blog and your business.  In addition business blogs tend to rank higher than other types of websites on search engines, giving you more visibility. 

There are many blog sites available on which we can post blogs.  IBOToolbox is the best platform to distribute your blog.  However, the more places you post your blog, the more it will be distributed throughout the internet.  Blogs are very cost effective.  There are many free blog sites.  Again, IBOToolbox is among the best, but search to find other free well-read blogging sites.

Whether you blog about business-related subjects, your personal life,  a hobby, recipes or anything else you can think of, once you attract an audience, they will return and recommend your blog to others.  This in turn will build higher levels of trust in you and your business.  Your blog readers may become your most passionate word-of-mouth ambassadors. 

Blogs help people get to know you better, personalize you and your business.  Your blog posts should be an essential part of your online marketing toolkit, a powerful marketing and communications tool. 

If you are not yet using blogs to promote and market your business, I suggest you begin doing so today!  If you do not know how to blog, ask someone in your company or you can send me an email, and I’ll be glad to give you some tips on how to begin.