5 Great Reasons to Start a Blog

I think you know that we believe blogging is a great tool for just about anyone to achieve all sorts of goals – from getting more sales, to building a client list, to becoming an expert, to expanding your platform or brand.  So here are 5 great reasons to start a blog…

Here are 5 Great Reasons why YOU should Set up a Blog

1. Low cost – Probably one of my favorite things about blogs – after setting up an expensive website that took two months and several thousand to build or doing it myself and having it look like crap,  blogs are one of the cheapest and most effective marketing tools – in terms of money.  For just a few dollars a month you can register your domain name and host your own blog.  Set up costs are low, as are maintenance costs.  And most people do not need to hire a developer –ever – to set up and maintain a blog.  Even if you do need some tech help, there are many reasonable alternatives out there for blog development
2. Connect – A blog’s format is tailor-made to create a connection and conversation with an audience.  The format of daily posts can read more like journal entries rather than marketing pieces and most readers allow some leeway when it comes to grammar and phrasing.  Now this doesn’t mean you have to get all confessional in a blog – I seldom do, but I certainly appreciate the informal tone and the ability to experiment.  But don’t forget that a lot of blogs – especially ones where one of the purposes is to sell something, should be informative – but you can be down home information.
3. A Two Way Conversation – Add in the ability for readers to comment in real time on your posts – and you to answer them back, and you have a true “conversation” going with your audience
4. Public Relations and Media Exposure – Journalists will call you -yes it’s true – if you have a decent informative blog and can be seen as an expert in something you might a call from a journalist asking to be part of a story.  Now more likely you will have to scout out for story ideas (try HARO.com) and pitch yourself to a journalist – but trust me – pointing to your blog and all of your readers commenting like crazy will really raise your cred factor.   a
5. Search Engine Optimization – most blog platforms are inherently search engine optimized –this means that they take care of turning your content into a format that search engines like and can find – it’s so much easier with a blog than with almost any other website platform.  This means that if people are searching for the topics you write about – you will be found.  And the great thing about search engine traffic is that it is free – yup – these are free visitors that might be interested in what you’re selling, promoting or writing about.  Make sure you download the All in One SEO plugin for Wordpress and add that to really pump up your SEO.