Market Your Business with a Blog

Using a blog to advertise your business can be an effective, inexpensive means of getting word of your services out to targeted audiences. Blogging is a fairly new way to use the modern capabilities of the Internet, and it is relatively inexpensive to implement and maintain. Quite simply, the term “blog” stands for “web log,” and, as its name suggests, it is an Internet-based communication vehicle used to deliver information to audiences in a timely manner. Many blogs are maintained like diaries, providing a daily chronicle of activities of interest to a blog’s readers or its writer. Other times, blogs function like newsletters, offering readers regular updates or summaries of news or research in a particular field.

In business, marketing with blogs is most akin to the grassroots or word-of-mouth techniques often used by smaller companies with limited budgets. New business owners can use blogs to regularly update customers of new milestones in product development, expanded service offerings, or new deals. If you offer a service for projects that require extended periods of time to complete, blogs can be used to chronicle that process, thus illustrating for customers the detail and quality of work you do for your clients.

Larger companies tend to hire professional writers to author and post content for their blogs. The copy is usually tailored to highlight the stronger points of the company itself, but may also provide industry news.

The major benefit of using blogs to market your business is its low cost. If you are savvy with a computer and adept at writing clear prose, you may tackle the job of maintaining and writing for your blog yourself. Alternately, if you can do only one or the other, you can still save money by contracting services for only one part of the job.

One of the greatest complaints readers have about blogs, however, is that they are sometimes rarely updated. If you plan to use blogs to market your business, you must be devoted to investing the time necessary to produce a quality product on a regular basis. Whether you must update daily, weekly, or monthly depends upon the needs of your business. If you work in a rapidly changing industry, be prepared for a daily or weekly update rotation. Otherwise, entrust the job to an employee or contractor with the skill and experience to do it for you.

Marketing your business with a blog provides a great way to get your name out though less traditional means. For newer business owners, blogs may offer that creative marketing angle your company needs.