I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people show up for a session on blogging at SITE’s International Conference last week. In hopes of perhaps learning a bit more myself, I decided to also join the session. Although participants were not polled to determine those who already maintained blogs, I could tell by the questions that this was unchartered territory for many.
Following the session, I invited some to visit this blog to learn more about blogging and the benefits to business. For those still curious …
What is a blog?
According to Wikipedia, it is a web-based publication of periodic articles (posts), usually presented in reverse chronological order, with one or many contributors. As a blog owner, you will often have control over how a subject is discussed on your blog due to your ability to frame the issue.
This morning I read of Cheapflights.com adding online blogging. According to the release at Breaking Travel News, the Vice Chairman Hugo Burge says “I am particularly inspired by the idea of creating a unique resource of knowledge from a wide range of industry experts, the Cheapflights team and consumers, which will assist consumers researching flights and help them keep abreast of the air travel industry.”
So, why are businesses blogging?
Blogging is a quick and easy way of publishing content to the web. There is therefore no need to wait for your website to be updated by a programmer. You are able to post company news, your thoughts, or views immediately, and with very little need, if any, to know or understand programming language.
- Blogs do not require the same level of investment as a website. In fact, they are inexpensive to maintain once you have it set up.
- Blogs allow you to communicate directly with clients, suppliers, even competitors. They can be used to complement your company website and support your company’s positioning and marketing plan.
- Blogs tend to be picked up quicker and earn higher rankings on search engines.
- Bloggers are able to get their updated content to Internet users who to subscribe to RSS (syndication) feeds; therefore eliminating the need for you to send out email updates or for your blog visitors to keep checking for updated content.
