Business Owners: 5 of the Many Ways How Blogging Can Help Your Business

Businesses of all sizes are beginning to realize the advantage of blogging and what that activity can mean for their businesses. Despite still being in its infancy, compared to other more mature marketing technologies, blogs are already significantly affecting businesses. That's because, used and designed properly a blog can help you manage your website and leverage your existing content for better business visibility. One of the best things about using a blog with your business is that it can be used in a variety of applications. Started as a simple personal journaling web application, a blog quickly mature and evolve into a business and marketing tool that some of us can't live without. So what can a blog do for your business? 1) Keep in touch with prospects and customers. Keep the interaction flowing and let them know you better. Demonstrate that there is a human behind your business, instead of a static website. 2) Position yourself as an expert in your niche. Regularly post about business events, share thoughts, new innovations or even provide customer service. 3) Capture leads. Engage them with content, delivered regularly through blogs, RSS feeds and e-mail. 4) Generate revenue. Selling advertising space, products, services, or build relationship and pre-sell. You to cash in your content by participating in contextual advertising program like Google AdSense, Yahoo! Publisher Network and others. 5) Boost business productivity. Used internally for communication, project management, or just a personal place to throw ideas at. Standalone conventional websites used to adequately deliver information, but nowadays customers want more than that. We live in an information age where there is enormous amount of data being generated every single second. That has meant that end-users (clients) are beginning to shift their information consumption habit. As a result, they now demand more control over the medium, and they prefer to choose when and what information they're going to process. As part of the shift, consumer generated media is set to take on older web models, especially as consumers also want to participate in the market, not just as passive readers. That's why having a blog on your website can be a very good idea. If customers are familiar with your product they may want to share what they think with others at your blog. On the other hand, if they're unfamiliar with your product, they may want to hear more about what you have to offer from others. In other words, the idea is to help them know your product better, and hopefully decide on your product when it comes time to buy. One of the interesting things about using a blog, is that it forces people to become participatory. You find that you have no choice but to jump into the conversation. And remember, if you don't allow people to have a say and talk on your blog, that doesn't mean it's the end of the conversation since they can just as easily start their own blog or leave comments on other people's blogs. Instead of just sitting and watching, customers want to have a conversation, where they can tell you directly what they think about a product or service that you offer. That can be scary, but it's also valuable feedback.