My Blog

Hey! Guys this is the frequent question I got in my email box.
“Should I start a blog to promote my business?”. My answer is “Yes, but
it depends on your business”.

There are certain types of businesses that can benefit from a blog,
if not by driving direct sales, then at least through buzz and PR.
These include:

• Business that deal with intellectual capital.
  Consultants, software engineers, designers and other business that sell
  ideas gain a marketing advantage by establishing the validity of the
  methodology, style, approach, or philosophy. A blog is an ideal forum
  for creating that advantage, and for building your reputation as a
  recognized expert in your field.
• Business that deal with topics their customers like to read about or talk about.
  There are product categories that customers are emotionally or
  intellectually engaged with, and these make good topics for blogs.
  Examples include personal computers, digital photography, coffee,
  running and travel. A blog is less likely to be effective for a product
  category that customers are not passionate about or even interested in,
  such as dry cleaning or cat litter. Cats, however would be a good topic
  for a blog.
• Business whose customers are information seekers.
  If you sell saltwater aquariums, that hobby requires a huge amount of
  knowledge on the part of the hobbyists, and a blog would be a great
  forum to share knowledge and experience. This hobby requires a lot of
  information to be successful. On the other hand, if you sell goldfish
  and goldfish bowls, those pets require minimum care and no expertise to
  maintain, and owning a goldfish is a casual experience - more of a home
  decoration than a pet or hobby.
• Business dealing with topics that are controversial or frequently updated.
  If there is a lot of controversy or disagreement on your topic, blogs
  can provide a great outlet for customers to express their views.
  Example, the changing role of IT and key issues affecting the IT
  profession, such as outsourcing programming and help desks to India. If
  a topic changes frequently, a blog can be where you keep your customers
  up to date. Example, complying with regulations like ISO9000, OSHA,
  technical standards like IEEE or anything similar.
• Self-employed professionals. If you offer a
  service, it is to your advantage to establish yourself as a recognized
  authority or “guru” in your field, whether it’s management consulting
  or quality assurance or an engineer. Writing a blog is part of an
  overall strategy for becoming a
  recognized expert in your field, along with such other activities as
  writing articles for trade publications and giving speeches.
• Technology and businesses. IT and other technical
  people are early adapters of blogs and enjoy actively discussing the
  latest technology on them. A blog by a programmer or scientist or
  engineer can be an effective way to keep customers and other interested
  parties informed and enthusiastic about your company’s technology or
  products. Blogs about industries, business topics (e.g. leadership,
  self-development), and specific companies can also garner substantial
  readership.

Hope you guys got some ideas about starting to blog. Tomorrow or the
day after I may elaborate more with this question “Do I want to do it?
Do I have the resources to do it?” and then “What’s my ROI?”. All these
I will tell you more assuming that you fall into one of the above
categories and writing a blog would be beneficial from a marketing
point of view.

Guys, whatever you are trying to achieve online via your blogs, you
need to give yourself a break. Since tomorrow is a weekend, enjoy a
quality time with your family.