BLOGGING FOR BUSINESS

By Janine Dalton
Web Developer

With more than 4 million blogs online, there is no escaping this phenomenon. A blog, short for web log, is simply an online journal, usually updated frequently. Initially, blogs were merely popular with teenagers and hobbyists, to whom they appealed as an alternative to the rather passé personal home page. Before long, a far wider audience embraced the idea and the blogosphere exploded. Finally, the commercial world realised their potential and the business blog was born.

A blog could be an invaluable marketing tool for your business. It presents a more personable corporate image to the public than faceless press releases and can quickly establish you as an authority on your business area with sufficient effort. Another major advantage is interactivity, since blogs typically allow all visitors to comment on all content. Add to this the fact that blogs cost little or nothing and, once set up, require no technical or design knowledge to maintain, and it becomes clear why this is no passing fad.

Not only have amateur webmasters and companies alike fallen under the spell of web logs but search engines love blogs too. It is not hard to see why. Blogs usually consist of valid HTML, laden with keyword-rich content and incoming and outgoing links galore. Furthermore, many blogs are updated extremely frequently; up to several times a day in fact. This means that the search engine spiders, craving fresh content, will reindex your site more and more often.

In essence, blogs have many of the vital ingredients necessary to cook up strong PageRank at Google and impressive search engine rankings generally. Perhaps you have already been surprised when searching to find a blog entry nestled high up among the major players, who have possibly paid for their privileged place unlike the lowly blogger. An added bonus is that there are many specialist blog search engines and directories to promote your blog in, for example Blogwise, Blogarama or Daypop. This should also drive traffic to your main website if you reference it prominently in your business blog.

If this all sounds too good to be true, there are some caveats. Blogs are writing intensive and maintaining a successful blog takes substantial time and effort. There are already blogs on every conceivable topic so originality is a challenge. You will need to set your blog apart somehow, by being first to comment on industry developments or by taking a controversial stance on issues for instance, if it is to enjoy major success. Be warned, if you do decide to board the blog bandwagon, it is essential that you keep it current. An out of date blog could cause more harm than good to your corporate image.

Yet the advantages far outweigh these minor drawbacks and if you want to join the blogging community there are many ways to do it. You can have a blog up and running for free in minutes with one of the online blog providers such as Google's Blogger. While this service is incredibly easy to use, it is quite basic and more suited to personal users. More professional hosted options are available, like the reasonably priced TypePad. Finally, by installing the blog script on your own web server instead, you can have complete control. There is a wide variety of free or inexpensive blog engine software available and it is worthwhile trying some out first to determine which best suits your requirements. Movable Type, WordPress and b2evolution are just 3 of the myriad of options available. Some technical knowledge is desirable to configure these scripts, and it is best to have a set of templates professionally designed if you wish your blog to fully integrate with your corporate branding. However, once your blog is set up, absolutely anyone can maintain it. You can add content via any web browser as easily as you would send an e-mail.

All in all, a blog could be the fresh approach to online marketing that your business is looking for.