How to Blog to Gain Attention (and Customers) For Your Local Small Business

Blogging is a pretty recent development where you are able to publish online simply and without any fuss, and it’s free.

So what is a blog?

Here’s the definition from the online encyclopedia Wikipedia:
“A blog is a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.
Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.”
The idea of blogging for commercial reasons is just an extension of normal profile raising activities; after all, if your local newspaper asked you to write a regular column devoted to your business area wouldn’t you take their offer up?

Blogging is increasingly in the mainstream not only with bloggers but readers themselves, and this area is ripe for what are known as “early adopters” or those who are the first to take on a new opportunity.

The good news is that it is free.

Blogging for Business or Blogvertising lends itself very easily to informative, topical and amusing promotion and has many attractions such as:

• It’s free, there is no cost to subscribe to well known blogging providers such as Blogger;
• Blogging lets you put a human face on your business façade and build connections and links with your key markets;
• Creating a blog provides you with a window into the minds of your potential customers in what has come to be termed “Consumer Generated Marketing”, business blogs are used by consumers to promote companies that live up to expectations;
• Business blogging can add a level of credibility and dynamism that a standard “brochure” style website cannot without a high price tag;
• Search engines will start working for you in your online marketing giving you higher ranking;
• You can demonstrate your knowledge and skills to the world at large and position yourself as an expert;
• No specialist skills are required, you can write or “blog” using a “Word” style interface and there is no need for you to know anything about web design – any member of your business can simply upload text and picture information as required.

Final words on Business Blogging; perform some preliminary research and understand what a blog. Plan out what you are trying to achieve and how you’re going to do it but remember that a blog is a two way street - your readers can and will interact with it.

Don’t be put off by the novelty of “blogging”, it may be different and new but it is what you do with it that will count and this is considered to be a major publicity channel of the near future.