Blogging: Full Circle

Posted by Sarah Mitchell on 29 June 2009 | 2 Comments

Tags: blogging, business writing, seo, brand, blog

When I first started this blog, I was worried about being relevant. I had failed to understand that a blog is business writing. My concern was that I didn’t want to trivialize my business and potentially undermine my own efforts. It’s taken me less than two months to figure out that a company blog can be a powerful lead generation tool. I don’t know why I didn’t recognize it before.

Establishing Authority
The first thing that happened was people started reading my blog posts. Not only were they reading them, they were suggesting other people read them, too. Like all writers, I appreciate nothing more than knowing someone has found value in something I’ve published. It wasn’t long before I got a call from my SEO service provider saying my site was beginning to index on the major search engines. He also said that if I continued to post on a weekly basis, I was going to improve my rankings much quicker than he had expected.

Developing a Brand
Still, I hadn’t quite grasped the full benefits of a regular blog post. My list of topics grew as I went about the normal course of my week. Every client meeting or interview gave me new ideas. When I discovered something that worked really well, I made a note to blog about it. When something went bad, I usually started writing a cautionary tale. Not all my ideas have resulted in a post, but they’ve all been helpful in developing my business.

Educating
My favourite part of blogging is having a platform to promote a good product or service. I enjoy pointing my readers to a great company or an interesting story. If somebody has provided good service or come up with an innovative idea, I’ll go out of my way to share that information. It’s the best thing about the internet.

Return on Investment
The one benefit I didn’t anticipate is how blogging ensures your company assets are being fully utilised. A good website is an investment. As technology becomes more sophisticated, it becomes harder to manage those investments. It’s no longer possible to develop a website with all the necessary information and leave it alone. Search engines are looking for living, changing web content. They’re not much interested in dormant sites. One of the easiest ways to keep your website fluid is to blog.

The Plug
I’m still a novice to blogging and I still worry about being relevant. I’m no longer in doubt about the importance of a company blog. Not only am I able to drive people to my website, I’m also able to use my posts to educate my potential client base. I’m assisting my SEO and capitalising on an important service that keeps my business positioned for success.
I’m lucky because I love to write. If writing is not something you enjoy or you just can’t find the time to develop a company blog, drop me a note. I’m a business writing expert and can help you realize some of the benefits I’m enjoying.