3 Reasons a Small Business Should Blog
Awesome Content: Set Up For Online Success
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Our host today is Casey Brazeal. If you're interested in getting in front of the readers of Site Sketch 101, check out our guest posting invitation here.
My blog, North and Clark, has existed for seven months. In the last two months I have begun advising others on blogging, building traffic and using social media.
After having several similar conversations with a number of different people, I created this document for a small business that was considering starting a blog but hadn’t yet.
While this document was created for a specific client, I think the points made in this document are relevant to all small business bloggers. It should also be food for thought for bloggers who want to blog professionally.
Increased Contact: Bring you closer to your customers.
- Increased traffic to the website. A recent Hubspot study showed that businesses with blogs got an average of 55% more web traffic than ones that did not have blogs.
- A user forum. The comment sections are a perfect place for your customers to engage with each other.
- A Voice in the Blogosphere. Many who consume media are more comfortable using online sources. Its not the only way to talk to costumers but it is a way that is growing in popularity.
Support: Bolster the things you already do.
- Press Releases. Anytime that Field Trip Factory has news or is covered in the news that story can appear as text, video or audio on your blog.
- Newsletter. Companies that already have newsletters have plenty of content that can easily be turned into blog posts. While it’s good that this information is available in the letter, there is no reason content from newsletters couldn’t remain active and searchable forever in the archives of a blog.
- Social Media. You already have a Facebook page, it would be easy to use a blog to connect with that page and any other social media you might already use or plan to use in the future (i.e. Linkedin, industry specific forums, Twitter, Digg and many others).
Easy to Maintain: Build as much or as little as you need.
- Easy to Use: Blogging software is some of the most user friendly you can find.
- Inexpensive: Blog costs are extremely low.
- More For Your Money: When compared with the cost of exposure in other media, blogs offer the most reasonable start up and upkeep costs.
Ron Boracay said:
Great inputs buddy! Blog should be a part of every businesses nowadays.
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Casey Brazeal (North and Clark) said:
Thanks Ron I couldn’t agree more.
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John Samuel said:
In fact, it lets you know whether the company is coming up with interesting development. I normally check the blogs of a site before trying a product/software
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Casey Brazeal (North and Clark) said:
I think consumers like you and I are at the front of a big change in the way people interact with the companies they buy from.
If it is a company I like I want to know what they are going to come out with next.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
John Samuel –> That’s an interesting point. I often do the same thing.
Dana @ Online Knowledge said:
I really believe that blog and business can do mutual benefit. Advertisement trough blog is more acceptable in my opinion.
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Casey Brazeal (North and Clark) said:
You’re right. But, its not just advertisement, a blog can be at the center of a companies public relation and consumer relationship management.
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InternetHow Blog said:
Also, most blog templates are designed in a way, which you can also use it as business website.
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HelpfulAdvisor said:
I agree InternetHow Blog. I did a project over at CTTSonline.com that used WordPress basically as a website, with some dynamic article marketing elements infused into it.
The owner was more than pleased with the result. And, he got what he wanted for way less than going a more traditional route.
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Casey Brazeal (North and Clark) said:
I think for some businesses it makes sense to create a secondary revenue stream through the blog, thought, I would not advise everyone to use that approach.
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Andrew @ Incomes International said:
Casey you are right on the money with this one.
For small businesses though I think the biggest reason why most don’t have a blog is time.
Corporations have the flexibility to hire someone to write content, manage the blog, and reply to comments.
The small business owner doesn’t have this freedom and has to do it all themselves. Since most SB owners are already burning the candle at both ends, it’s unlikely that they will see the benefit unless they run a business that relies heavily on web based sales.
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Casey Brazeal (North and Clark) said:
Andrew! It’s been too long buddy.
I agree with you that the time commitment can be intimidating, and you know that good blogging takes time.
Still, its my opinion that its impossible to do PR and marketing without investing some serious time or money. Blogs may not be easy but when compared with direct mail, radio or television its very cheap. Furthermore I believe that a companies efforts on a blog are very scalable. While it would be ideal to have new posts everyday I think it would be totally reasonable for a small business to only update every week.
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Rocky Garcia said:
Increased contact is one of the best things that you can have on growing your business on blogging.
When you blog, you’re not only making friends. You also build potential customers to your blog.
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Casey Brazeal (North and Clark) said:
Thanks Rocky!
Todays customers don’t just want a voice they expect it. There are few if any mediums of communication that are as dynamic and responsive as blogging.
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Rocky Garcia said:
This article is worth twitting man!
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ZXT said:
Blogs will surely help companies to get more online presence and traffic and eventually will lead to sales.
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Casey Brazeal (North and Clark) said:
If not immediately, certainly down the road.
HelpfulAdvisor said:
Casey, you made some excellent points! I’m a huge advocate of small business blogging AND website presence as a means to bolster success. That’s what my blog at HelpfulAdvisor.com is all about.
So I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who sees the benefits of doing so in regard to small business.
Blogging or even building a website yourself can be a matter of making the time to do it. However, there are ways to go about getting it done, if you don’t have the time to do it yourself.
The biggest thing I could add would be that if you make the choice to get your business online, then commit to making it the best it can be. Then and only then will you get the big rewards.
Only doing a so-so effort will get you so-so results. Just look at SiteSketch101 as an example of what total commitment will get you. This site is a result of commitment alongside a more than full time job. Yet the commitment is reaping the rewards, by growing in popularity and in many other ways.
Hope you all are doing great today!
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Casey Brazeal (North and Clark) said:
A good point. You want to have something that can represent your company in a way that is enduring and lives up to your standard. That doesn’t mean you have to have the top viewed website on the net but it does mean quality, consistency, and maintenance.
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Gabe | freebloghelp.com said:
Great points on organizational blogging. I got my blogging start while blogging for my employers. Our most frequented pages were all from our blogs!
These days, I’d have to say that EVERY business, big, medium, or small, should have a blog. There’s really no downside!
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Casey Brazeal (North and Clark) said:
Here’s a man with real data to back up my claims! Can I quote you Gabe?
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Gabe | freebloghelp.com said:
Sure, what’s the what part are you quoting?
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Teen Blogger said:
Great Post.
Even businesses can increase their traffic drastically just by blogging. Not only do you keep the business side, but you also make new contacts if the content is useful and well written.
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Casey Brazeal (North and Clark) said:
A blog especially one like this where there is so much interaction is a good way to signal to consumers that you want to engage them.
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izzat aziz said:
i guess later on, there should be subject blog in business degree..
its fun to learn about bloging in class..
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Nicholas Cardot said:
izzat aziz –> You stick around at this blog for long enough and you’ll have your degree in blogging.
Casey Brazeal said:
I think Nick could teach that class.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Casey Brazeal –> It’s easy to teach what you’re passionate about.
Rocky Garcia said:
@ Casey – Agree with that. Today blogging is more effective than using a cart to sell an item.
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Extreme John said:
Out of all business types small business owners should be working extra hard online to capture, keep and maintain their customer base.
We recently overhauled all of our company blogs and started using social media sites to stay connected and it’s working great.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Extreme John –> It’s good to hear that. I think that often times people try to wrangle people into one big sale and they don’t care if the person ever comes back again. It doesn’t matter to them as long as they can move on and find the next big sucker.
scheng1 said:
That’s true. I visited a blog of a dental group in UK. I must say that they are very successful in educating the public about the advance in dentistry.
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