Small Business Blogging: Why Do People Blog?

Why should you blog?

Photo: freedigitalphotos.net

Blogging is an elective. There is no requirement for blogging just as there is no requirement to eat diet food … unless, of course, you really need to. Likewise with blogging. If you study the statistics for small businesses you will find certain types of businesses do much better as a result of blogging than others. We know, for example, that social media’s highest participatory demographic is females between the ages of 18 and 34 (report link). We also know that companies who blog have 55% higher website traffic than companies who do not blog (report link).

Every legitimate business should have an online presence. If any business has an online presence they should also employ some method of making sure that online presence is seen.

Small Business Blogging

For the small business person the concept of outbound marketing to gain inbound results really is simple: find the highest return for the least investment which pays off the quickest. What some “social media gurus” may try and sell you is that blogging and social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all you need I, who depend on internet marketing clients to buy my pies, disagree in a pretty major way. While these tools certainly should be in virtually every small business marketing strategy they should never be depended on to achieve your fullest results.

Every legitimate business should have an online presence. If any business has an online presence they should also employ some method of making sure that online presence is seen. One advantage of blogging over a simple, static, brochure type site is the frequency at which relevant content can be published. Google prefers new to old and so do readers. If you are in a business like many of my clients who are either in the mortgage business, real estate business or training/public speaking business the content of your business is constantly changing and therefore needs to be reflected in your online information. Blogs are perfectly suited for this by leaving the older copy available in an archive and publishing the most current and accurate information regularly.

The benefit to leaving the old information on, such as in the old blog posts on my site here, is that they have already been indexed by Google and likely already have inbound links (hopefully) which you do not want to break by deleting those pages. Google likes sites which have been around for a while and have consistently added information. So do readers/visitors – even more important than the Google.

In the video I break out 4 Reasons to Blog. These are major categories and there may be others but I find these to be the four most likely super categories.

• To make friends and build relationships. Let’s face it – this is the “social” part of social media. Over the years I have made a long list of true friends as a result of social media.  Many of those have turned into relationships which even cross over into the business realm. People like other people and social media is truly all about people.
• To build a brand or get discovered. Does the name Justin Bieber ring a bell? They say Barrack Obama is the first social media president. Most major brands today have social media teams. Virtually everyone I know has a blog and social media accounts. It’s the blogs, generally, when the conversations become transactions and the real work is done.
• To get paid. As indicated many enterprise and even small businesses have teams of bloggers and social media accountants. These people do not always care about the outcome and quite often it is reflected in their attention to detail when it comes to facts and accuracy in the content of the blogs they publish. While I am certainly paid to write blogs for small business people there are large companies who outsource by the thousands – you’ll spot them fairly easily if you try.
• For artistic or creative relief. I wonder how many short story, poetry, baking, and craft blogs are out there. Many have become successful because of the FUR. You don’t know about FUR? Ask me – almost every successful blog (or any marketing campaign for that matter) had to have some APE FUR to get there. Ask me about APE FUR and I’ll let you in on it. Most creative outlet type blogs are not created to have a financial result. They care more about creating something worth sharing … or even not. You can be yourself with blatant disregard for the ROI.

So to sum it up you really need to start with APE FUR. I do recommend blogging, take some lessons if needed, hire a professional when the time comes, and make the best of it for your readers. There are plenty of us with experience and skills to help you write the best words at the most optimal time to achieve the highest results. Let us help!