Hey! Guys this is the frequent question I got in my email box. “Should I start a blog to promote my business?”. My answer is “Yes, but it depends on your business”.

There are certain types of businesses that can benefit from a blog, if not by driving direct sales, then at least through buzz and PR. These include:

• Business that deal with intellectual capital. Consultants, software engineers, designers and other business that sell ideas gain a marketing advantage by establishing the validity of the methodology, style, approach, or philosophy. A blog is an ideal forum for creating that advantage, and for building your reputation as a recognized expert in your field.
• Business that deal with topics their customers like to read about or talk about. There are product categories that customers are emotionally or intellectually engaged with, and these make good topics for blogs. Examples include personal computers, digital photography, coffee, running and travel. A blog is less likely to be effective for a product category that customers are not passionate about or even interested in, such as dry cleaning or cat litter. Cats, however would be a good topic for a blog.
• Business whose customers are information seekers. If you sell saltwater aquariums, that hobby requires a huge amount of knowledge on the part of the hobbyists, and a blog would be a great forum to share knowledge and experience. This hobby requires a lot of information to be successful. On the other hand, if you sell goldfish and goldfish bowls, those pets require minimum care and no expertise to maintain, and owning a goldfish is a casual experience - more of a home decoration than a pet or hobby.
• Business dealing with topics that are controversial or frequently updated. If there is a lot of controversy or disagreement on your topic, blogs can provide a great outlet for customers to express their views. Example, the changing role of IT and key issues affecting the IT profession, such as outsourcing programming and help desks to India. If a topic changes frequently, a blog can be where you keep your customers up to date. Example, complying with regulations like ISO9000, OSHA, technical standards like IEEE or anything similar.
• Self-employed professionals. If you offer a service, it is to your advantage to establish yourself as a recognized authority or “guru” in your field, whether it’s management consulting or quality assurance or an engineer. Writing a blog is part of an overall strategy for becoming a recognized expert in your field, along with such other activities as writing articles for trade publications and giving speeches.
• Technology and businesses. IT and other technical people are early adapters of blogs and enjoy actively discussing the latest technology on them. A blog by a programmer or scientist or engineer can be an effective way to keep customers and other interested parties informed and enthusiastic about your company’s technology or products. Blogs about industries, business topics (e.g. leadership, self-development), and specific companies can also garner substantial readership.

Hope you guys got some ideas about starting to blog. Tomorrow or the day after I may elaborate more with this question “Do I want to do it? Do I have the resources to do it?” and then “What’s my ROI?”. All these I will tell you more assuming that you fall into one of the above categories and writing a blog would be beneficial from a marketing point of view.

Guys, whatever you are trying to achieve online via your blogs, you need to give yourself a break. Since tomorrow is a weekend, enjoy a quality time with your family.

[smile] 

See ya later. Cheers.

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