Create a Blog - 10 Top Reasons to Create a
Weblog for Your Business 
Copyright Herman Drost

I postponed creating a blog for my business because I
thought there was no marketing value in it and the ones I'd
seen were primarily news blogs or personal blogs. Well,
that was some time ago for now many businesses are creating
blogs to attract more visitors and make more sales.

What is a Blog?

This is a small or large online journal that allows the
author to frequently write on topics of personal interest
or of interest to his/her visitors. The writing style is
usually informal. Visitors can instantly add their comments
to the end of the authors writings or posts. The posts are
in chronological order ie day, month and year. Topics may
include commentary on the Internet, brief philosophical
discussions, or social issues plus links to other sites the
author favors.

The author of a blog is often referred to as a blogger.

Blogs are alternatively called web logs or weblogs.
However, "blog" is less likely to cause confusion, because
"web log" can also mean a server's log files.

10 top reasons to create a blog for your business

1. Ability to add content in minutes. You don't have to
spend time uploading (FTP) files to your host like static
sites. You can update your content from any computer that
has internet access. If you have a brilliant idea you want
to write about you just need to log in to your
administration panel and enter your post.

2. Separate design from content. Blog software is database
driven. This means you can alter the theme or template of
your blog without affecting the content. Therefore you can
immediately test different colors and designs to determine
what best appeals to your visitors.

3. Search engine friendly. Blogging software such as Word
Press allow you to generate search engine friendly pages.
Instead of your pages ending in long URLS ie

http://www.mysite.com/main.php?category=books&subject=biography

they can end in .htm ie

http://www.mysite.com/pagebooks-biography.htm

Search engines like web sites that are updated frequently.
Sites that don't receive new content quickly become stale.
One of the main characteristics of a blog is that it is
frequently updated so search engines will visit it often.

4. Create RSS Feeds. RSS (really simple syndication) feeds
are integrated within blog software. So every time you post
something to your blog it will create a RSS feed
automatically. It will also notify some of the larger sites
that carry these feeds and make them available for
syndication. This is a great viral marketing method that
will quickly attract many visitors.

5. Build link popularity. To increase your sites' rankings
in Google and other search engines, you need to generate
many incoming links to your web site. The more links you
have the better. If you create a blog that contains
valuable content, you will have many people linking to you.
RSS feeds are becoming a very popular and an easy way to
read content quickly. Since your blog has this feature
already built in, your link popularity will build faster
than if you had a site with no feeds.

6. Encourages interactivity. Visitors can immediately add
their own comments to your posts. This helps build a long
term relationship with them and win their trust. It will
also make your blog stickier because you will get many
returning visitors eager to read others' comments or write
more of their own.

7. Make money. Blogs also offer a great way to place
AdSense Ads on your pages. Word Press blogging software has
a plugin that easily allows you to place AdSense Ads
anywhere on your pages as well as all current pages on your
blog. With a static site you would have to add the AdSense
code to each page. You can also make money by promoting
affiliate sites or selling your own product.

8. Customizable. Word Press blogging software has over 500
plugins and hundreds of different themes to choose from.
This gives you the flexibility to make your blog the best
it can be for your business purposes.

9. Easy administration. Here are some of the features of
the Word Press administration panel:

-add content immediately

-change the theme (look and feel) of your blog without
altering the content.

-create different permissions for people who will add
content to your blog ie administrators, editors, contributors.

10. Help market your newsletter. Many emails don't get
through to your subscribers these days because of spam
blockers residing on your visitors computer or web host's
server. A blog that contains RSS feeds will enable visitors
to receive your newsletter automatically by subscribing to
the feed on your blog. You can also send your visitors an
email that includes a link back to your blog. This will
also help build links to your blog as people visit it.

Tip:
Before you create a blog make sure you put some
thought into the purpose of it and what topics you want to
write about. Make a schedule to write often (ie daily,
weekly or monthly) so it doesn't grow stale and lose
interested visitors. If you have been putting off creating
a blog, START NOW as you may be leaving money on the table.

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Get a Professional Blog customized for your business.

Herman Drost is a Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
and owner of iSiteBuild.com
Web Site Design, Web Hosting, Web Site Promotion

Author of “Marketing Tips” newsletter. To subscribe, enter your information at:
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