These days, it seems everyone everywhere has a blog. Businesses use them for different reasons: to get customer feedback, to answer commonly asked questions, to describe their company, to boost their search-engine rankings, ect. So, with all the hype about blogs, do you need one? This week's small-business report from the Wall Street Journal explores this question, drawing on the experience of small-business owners who have experimented with blogs and have seen their profits soar.
While a blog can help you establish your credibility and expertise, "it's a fallacy to think you blog, and you sell," says Debbie Weil, a Washington, D.C.-based author and corporate blogging consultant who is quoted in the article. If you do have a blog, the article suggests several ways to make it more profitable, including:
•Update the content on a daily or weekly basis
•Add a creative or humorous twist to posts
•Provide a social networking forum for customers
•Link to other Web sites or blogs or have them link to you
•Use your blog to showcase your work
Want to know more about how to use a blog to boost business? Check out this article in our April/May Small-Business Technology Manual.
