This month, I am writing a series of blog posts on social media and your business.

Blogs are a great way for businesses to increase search ranking. They also engage your audience and keep you on your toes with what’s new in the industry. Customers are always interested in the newest products and keeping up with the latest trends.

There are several free blog services out there: Blogger and WordPress, just to name a few.

Advantages


  1. More traffic to your site – Blogging can increase your search engine rating. The more posts, the better. Make sure you create relevant blog posts. Creating posts no one will read doesn’t make much sense.
  2. Position yourself as an expert on the subject – By creating new content for your business’ industry, you’re building credibility with potential customers. Customers want to hire professionals who know their stuff.
  3. Engage your audience – Ask questions. Have a contest. Start a dialogue about a certain topic. Create a poll. Communication between customers (and yourself) can help you decide what approach is best for your business.

Disadvantages


  1. Not enough time – If you don’t have enough time to write at least a few posts a month, you probably shouldn’t have a blog. Users get turned off when they go to your blog and see it hasn’t been updated in over 6 months. If you can’t keep up with posts, we suggest you don’t add a blog to your website.
  2. Spam – Spam comments happen all of the time on blogs. An easy way to avoid this is to moderate all comments that come through. This way you can easily pick out the spam and delete those comments before they ever get posted.
  3. Negative feedback – If you put your opinion on the Internet, you will probably get a few users who don’t agree with you. This is completely okay. You just need to make sure you respond well. No one has the same thought process you do.

Examples

TBH Creative’s blog fits seamlessly into the website design.

TBH Creative’s blog.


Kermans Fine Flooring’s blog also matches their website design.

Kermans Fine Flooring’s blog.