Using blogs
Using a blog
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/smallbusiness/technology-in-business/sales-and-marketing/using-blogs.mspx
This guide is designed to help you promote your business using a blog. Done properly, a blog can provide you with a relatively cost-effective way of getting your key messages in front of thousands of users, often in a targeted way.
You will need to be careful and abide by the accepted rules on business promotion using online tools, but once you understand these there is no reason why you can’t use this medium to promote your business.
What is a blog?
Blog is an abbreviation of ‘web log’. It is an online commentary or news item that is created by an individual ‘blogger’. At any one time there are millions of blogs available to be read in the blogsphere covering a huge range of mainstream and esoteric subjects. Blogging is believed to have started in the mid-1990s and was born out of various on-line diaries and journals kept by individuals.
Blogging has grown in popularity over the years and is used by people to promote ideas, arguments, products, services and news comment. Some blogs have attracted a huge and loyal following of readers, others are cries in the wilderness not read by anyone.
If you want to see a ranking of the most popular blogs you can visit Technorati.com. The success of blogs can be measured by the number of times they are linked to and those that are favoured by users voting for their best sites. By taking a look at popular sites you will get an idea of how to structure your own site for maximum impact.
It’s worth noting that most blogs can contain images as well as text, so you can also use these to get your message across.
Other types of blog include a vblog (video blog), photblog (photographs) or podcasting which is an audio blog.
If you want to see an example of a good blog, take a look at the People's Republic of South Devon.
Why would a business owner bother to blog?
For the busy small business owner the thoughts of spending time on a blog can seem to be a wasteful exercise. In truth not every business will benefit from a blog and you will need to weigh up the pros and cons of starting such a venture.
For others a blog has become a very useful marketing tool. Blogs can be found using the popular search tools such as Google or MSN search. If you are involved in a very specialist business area you may find that your blog starts to attract a following from that market that is not catered for elsewhere - it depends what you write about.
Typically the following small businesses may benefit from blogs:
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Specialist/niche product vendors |
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Those in new or emerging markets |
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Businesses selling to ‘computer-savvy’ consumers or professionals |
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Media-oriented businesses |
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Marketing companies |
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Businesses focused on popular culture or tastes such as music, film or youth TV shows. |
If you are in doubt why not try and write a blog for a few weeks and see what happens? You may be pleasantly surprised and it is also fun to let off a bit of steam.
Techniques for improving your blog coverage
The key to a successful blog is content. If you start trying to sell your products via your blog you will soon loose any readers you may have gained. Instead try and think of commentary concerning your industry area or expertise and then let people refer back to your web site for details of the products and services you sell. If you balance this correctly you should start to see leads and enquiries coming from the blogsphere.
Checklist of good content:
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Of interest to users |
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Insightful |
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Compelling and fun |
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Makes readers think |
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Does not overtly sell or self promote |
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Newsworthy and regularly updated. |
Things to avoid:
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Anti-social subject matter |
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Sales pitches |
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Too much obvious self promotion. |
I'm not sure blogging is for me
Blogging is not for everyone. It takes time and effort, and for a blog to be successful you need to update the content on a regular basis - daily at least. If you don’t update your blog frequently then your blog will no longer be fresh and interesting.
For many small business owners making time to blog can be difficult. Think about the benefits and decide if you have time. With practice you can create simple updates in minutes. Many small updates are better than less frequent big updates.
The business benefits of a blog
All small businesses are focused on generating sales and profits. A blog may enable you to communicate another side to your business or personality that people find amusing or interesting, which may in turn increase your market visibility and your sales. In addition a well structured blog can demonstrate thought leadership in a specific area and increase the amount of traffic subsequently visiting your website and hopefully, buying goods or services.
Blogging technologies
There are a number of companies that will host a blog for you. Some will be free, others will charge dependent upon the type of service you want.
Note that for a commercial entity you are more likely to be charged, so you may wish to blog as an individual rather than as a business owner or director. These sites will host your blog:
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Blog software
There are many blogging software packages available. The good news is that much of this software is free or very cheap. If you have not blogged before it may be an idea to take advantage of one of the free products. These sites have a useful summary of commonly used blog software:
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Hosting your own blog
You may decide to host your own blog. This entails working with a service provider to configure your own website to contain the blog. It is possible to simply add a blog to the pages on a website, but you may decide to invest in a more streamlined solution.
The benefit of hosting the blog yourself is that you are driving business to your own website, making the sales opportunities a bit easier. That said, remember that some blog readers will get upset if they are being actively sold to via the blog content.
The following vendor’s products can be used to build a self hosted blog site:
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Why should I blog?
Many small businesses have benefited really well by using blogs as discrete PR and promotional vehicles. Others have found them to be a waste of time, at least commercially.
It may be an idea to ensure that your own website is up to scratch before engaging in a blog as users will often track you back to your company site. This will be your shop window, so make sure it is up to date and gives a good reflection on you and your products.
Blogging can have a valid part to play in a small businesses promotional programme. Why not try both and see what happens? You may enjoy the fun of contributing material and see it as a break from other day to day work you do, and, remember, you own all of the outbound content which means you have total control of the content, so you can say what you like (within reason)!
Blog checklist
Here is a very simple check list to help you decide if a blog is for you. Good luck!
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Do you have the time and energy to blog effectively? |
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Have you evaluated the business benefit of running a blog? |
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Is your own website up to date? |
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What is the best way of hosting and managing your site? |
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Why not take a look at the Using forums Guide to see what else you can do to raise your company's profile. |
