Six Reasons Why Small Businesses Should Blog Now

Six Reasons Why Small Businesses Should Blog Now

There?s a lot of buzz about blogs these days, and for good reason: their impact on politics, journalism and business is felt weekly.
What?s a blog and why should you care? Short for ?weblogs,? blogs were originally conceived as web-based interactive journals for teens, but businesses have been discovering they?re an easy to use and affordable tool for interacting with customers.
You should care because blogs are changing the nature of communications and conversations.
Fueling the rise of Blog Nation are early adopters. By day, early adopters are lawyers, writers, consultants, techies and other professionals. By night, they?re the test pilots of new stuff, so they tend to be influential, especially among other influential buzz-spreaders. One blogger and her blog can become ground zero for viral waves of good buzz about a product, company or service, funneling other early adopters toward you and your organization.
For some small businesses, their blog has become the de facto public relations department. For b-to-b companies, blogs are solving a big problem: bridging the feedback loops between end customers and channels. A blog allows more people in the loop.
Blogs are easy to set up and maintain, and some are free. You could start a blog tomorrow, and you should. Why?
Among dozens of reasons of why, here are six:

1. Blogs fan the flames of customer evangelism. Follow the path established by admired blogs by sharing copious details about life, business or work. Passionate loyalists love that because it humanizes you and your organization. They?ll tell others.
2. Blogs can deliver instant feedback. Most blogs allow readers to respond to your posts with real-time feedback. Readers may point out new or existing problems or solutions. A blog can reveal a small problem before it sprouts into a bigger one.

3. Blogs compel you to share more of your knowledge more often. If you share what you know, think and believe, search engines index your knowledge. Then prospects find you faster. Attraction is always easier than hunting.

4. Blogs facilitate the spread of buzz. Honest, informative and thought-provoking posts tend to be spread often.

5. Blogs allow you to have simultaneous conversations with customers and prospects. It's more than you could ever do in person.

6. Blogs help position you as an expert in your industry. A comprehensive blog is an ideal pulpit for persuading your industry and customers toward future destinations.

Once you start blogging, here are four blogging don'ts:

1. Do not hire someone to write your blog. Write it yourself.

2. Don?t let blogs become tools of the PR department or ad agency. Blogs are best when they?re authentic, which may include run-on sentences, detailed analysis or critical opinions. Do ensure your company has blog guidelines.

3. Do not have a thin skin. Comments to posts may sting. One benefit of blog-based conversations: unwarranted criticism is often refuted by other readers/customers.

4. Do not let your blog become a branding exercise. Endless promotion of yourself and your company is self-defeating.

There are multiple blog service providers, but here are two of the best:
* www.TypePad.com. Starts at $4.95 per month.
* www.Blogger.com. Free.
While not nearly representative of the thousands of small-business blogs out there, here are two models to explore:

Stonyfield Farm
This 215-person New Hampshire dairy maintains five excellent blogs about the company's products and the organic lifestyle.

Postlapsaria Fashions
Keiko Groves, a 19-year-old Florida college student, has marketed her successful Internet-based clothing business entirely via her blog.



Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba are the authors of ?Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force.? Read their blog at www.ChurchoftheCustomer.com.