You Blog – Why?

Recently, a lot of people have been asking me about blogging.  They range from people that are not online to people that have been online for years, but do not have a blog. Here is a sample of the types of questions I get asked – What is blogging?  What are the benefits?  Is it hard?  What would I write about?  Who would be interested in what I have to say?  I am not very good at writing, can I still blog? 

I could go through all of the benefits of having a blog, but instead I found a couple of posts that I thought explain it all very well. (Why reinvent the wheel?)

Let's start with Paula Berg –

She reports in an article on the Huffington Post:

Hubspot's “The State of Inbound Marketing Survey” found that:

•      77% of Internet users read blogs
•      Blogs yield an average ROI of 600%
•      Companies that blog have two times the number of inbound links versus companies that don't
•      46% of companies with blogs have acquired customers from a blog-generated lead
•      58% say that they are better-known in their industry because of their blog
•      56% say that their blog has helped their company establish a positioning as a thought leader within the industry

She goes on to add, from her own experience, the six reasons why every brand should blog:

1. Brand Identity

2. Search Engine Optimization

3. Control the Message

4. Social Media Home Base

5. Lead Generation

6. Analytics

This is a very interesting article and, in it, she expands on all the reasons mentioned above.

Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/paula-berg/6-reasons-every-brand-sho_b_894004.html

Secondly, let's look at a post on Blog Traffic Exchange

The say –

‘As a marketing tool, blogs are full of all kinds of potential. Blogs have some truly unique characteristics as a marketing tool. First of all, they are much easier than newsletters when it comes to getting your idea across. They can be added to, and they can be updated at any time and from virtually anywhere. Blogs also have long lasting shelf lives, as they exist on the internet until you decide to remove them. This contrasts well to newsletters which have extremely short shelf lives, because once you send it out, it’s sent, then trashed, and gone.'

They go on to talk about the ease of getting your message out across the internet – which is a great way to share your opinion or sell a product.

Source: https://www.blogtrafficexchange.com/why-blog-ill-tell-you-why/

Lastly, but certainly not least, is an article from Writing Roads.

I really liked how they used a tree analogy as a description.

‘Your main blog topic is the trunk of the tree, and each post is a branch that broadens your reach via topics, keywords and skill showcasing.'

They talk about how inexpensive it is to have a blog, how blog articles are timeless, great for relationship marketing, how easy it is to do it yourself.

I have not, by any means, covered all of the great material written in these posts.  Click on the links above to read the complete article.

A clearer picture has been formed, I am sure, of why you should blog.  In following articles I will delve further into the other questions being asked about blogging and generally being online.

I would love to hear the reasons you blog.  Please write them below.