What Can a Blog do for you?

The word blog is a contraction of the words “web log.” A blog is simply a place to post information about something on the web. For example, if someone is searching for the perfect cheesecake recipe and wants to keep their friends and family updated on the project, they might have a blog for that. The posts can consist of a few lines of text, a picture, a video, a voice recording, or a mixture of these things. There are no rules governing what blogs should be about, or what the blog posts should consist of. If you wanted to have a blog called “Alphabet Letters of the Day” and post one letter of the alphabet every day that would count as a blog. The beauty of blogs is that they can be whatever you want them to be.

Should you have a blog for your business?

If you are serious about using the Internet to grow your business (as you should be), the answer is yes. Here are a few reasons why you should have a blog:

• Websites with blogs get much more traffic than websites without blogs.
• Blogs help make your website “sticky,” meaning people spend more time on it. This helps convert people into customers and can help your search engine rankings as well.
• Blog posts give you an opportunity to use keywords that can act as magnets for drawing traffic to your website.
• Websites that get updated with content regularly are more likely to rank higher in search results.
• The content you use in your blog posts gives you something to promote on social websites like Twitter and Facebook.
• If your blog is hosted on your own website, that means you own it. No matter how many Facebook “likes” your business may have, you don’t own it. Facebook always has the ability to shut you down for whatever reason. Not only does ownership give you control of your destiny, it also allows you to make an income if your blog starts attracting a large audience (through affiliate marketing or Google’s AdSense program).

The best advice I have for you about blogging is just to do it, and to do it systematically. Don’t be over-ambitious and try to write a 1200-word article every few days. Start simple with a routine you can stick with for the long haul. Maybe it’s a 100-word post every week, or maybe it’s a photo with a caption every week. Incorporate keywords that are relevant to your products or services. This will help you get traffic from the search engines.

If you really don’t want to blog or think you won’t have the time to do it regularly, consider having someone do it for you. Do you have a friend or family member who might like to help? It’s always possible to hire someone too. Upwork.com is a great place to find freelancers with many types of specialties, including blogging for businesses.