Blogging: Getting More Customers and Sales

Many of my customers have been asking about Blogging:

• What is Blogging
• How does it help bring customers or sales
• How hard is it to Blog
• How can I get going

As a web designer I get many inquiries each week about Blogging. There are 3 main types of Blogs:

1. Mini or Micro Blogs
2. Sponsored Blogs
3. Self Hosted Blogs

Mini or Micro Blogs

These are the Blogs that are attached to many different Social Sites like FaceBook, MySpace, iConntact, and just about every Social Networking site on the Internet. Even places like Comcast or your Internet Provider have mini Blogs. These are free and best used for a personal blog - not a business blog. For the most part they are not customizable, are not good for branding, and your will look just like the next persons. They also do not have any special functionality or any plugins and they are not search engine friendly. If you just want to try Blogging and are not expecting any specific results these are a free option. A Micro Blog is a site like Twitter.  To get more information on using Twitter to Build Your Business read this article.

Sponsored Blogs

These are free Blogs by Blogging software companies like WordPress, Blogger, TypePad, SquareSpace and many others. These are a step better than the mini Blogs but since they are free they will have advertising that is out of your control put there by the company. WordPress sponsored Blogs are very limited as to the plugins and widgets that are available. They do allow some customization and branding but it to is limited.

Self Hosted Blogs

This is the best option for a business owner that is Blogging to gain more clients or sales. By paying for your own hosting you remove all the limitations that are enforced in the other methods. Buying a unique domain and a years worth of hosting can be under $100.00 per year - so it is extremely cheap advertising. I use WordPress because it is open source and there is a huge amount of help in various forums. There are also a huge amount of plugins (specific programs for functionality) that have been built and made available to use for free. If you want your blog to perform a special task there is likely someone else that has already made a program for the task and you just need to download and install it - wonderful for people that do not know computer programming. These are just a few of the reasons to use WordPress for your Blogging platform.

Blogging brings more Clients and Sales

Blogging will set you up as an authority in your industry. It makes you approachable, shows your knowledge, and builds trust. People that shop online are not impulse buyers. They have done research, found the exact item they want, and are now looking to decide where to buy. These are highly qualified buyers and you want to gain their trust. Having a blog is a huge step in gaining trust - especially a blog that is updated often and will answer many of their concerns about the product or service they are seeking. You will make more sales when you are a trusted authority than you would by just having a static website - just like everyone else. Blogging will put you way ahead of the competition - especially if you do Blogging correctly. Setting your Blog up to be search engine friendly, Blogging often, getting a web of content around your blog, and making thoughtful posts that will answer the questions that your potential customers are searching for.

How Hard is Blogging?

Blogging is not hard. At the very first (while getting your blog set up) it can be very technical. After the Blog is set up and online it is just a matter of getting into a pattern of posting articles. If you are really not a technical person, or just do not have the time to devote to setting up a blog then hiring someone to get it up and running for you is always an option - and for some it is a better option. After that initial step then Blogging is easy and can become quite fun. I have spoken to some business owners that find spending a half hour each morning on their blog gets them going and in the business frame of mind. It makes their day more focused and they get more done.