What is blogging?

Think of a blog as a noticeboard where you can post any thoughts you like online. Blogging services are usually hosted by someone else, and are generally very easy to use. When you keep a blog, your most recent post goes at the top of the page and previous posts follow that in reverse date order.

Generally you don’t need to worry about the technology behind a blog because it all runs automatically, all you do is fill in a box and hit publish each time you wish to blog. The software takes care of moving the previous blogs down a bit and archiving older blogs. Superb.

You can find blogging services at www.blogger.com and at www.typepad.com as well as countless other places. Try a few out and pick the one that seems easiest to use.

OK, I’ve started a blog, now how is it going to help my small business?

There are two ways your new blog will help your business:

1. Readers become customers

If people reading your blog like what they see, there’s every chance they’d consider giving you their business. No longer are you a faceless website out in cyberspace. By sharing your thoughts you are personalising the customer experience and if they like what they read in your blog, they are more likely to buy from you.

2. Each blog entry relates to your main website and helps boost the ranking of your site in search engine results

By blogging about your business you are creating a page of text full of key phrases relating to your business. If you make sure every blog entry has a link to a page of your main website, then each one counts as an inbound link. And what’s better is that all the search terms are used in context, so each link can be worth more.

So what are you going to blog about? That’s up to you, and your business, but remember, everything view you express says something about you and how you do business. Be honest in what you write, but don’t start on a rant about a customer or client as this may just turn off new customers.

Good luck and happy blogging.