I am often asked why an entrepreneur, small business, CEO or multinational company’s employees should blog…is it worth the time and effort, does it have a return-on-investment or a ROB (return-on-blog)?

YES!

According to a wide-range of surveys, it is estimated that there are more than 80 million blogs on the Internet. That’s a lot of communication going on. And either you are a part of this conversation or you aren’t. I would bet that several of your competitors are out there.

If you aren’t blogging, and that includes reading and posting and linking to other blogs, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to connect with an audience that has similar interests, that wants to know more about what you do, how you do it and wants to tell you what they need.

Blogging gives you:
• An informal way to talk about your company.
• A place to ask for feedback – about your service, products, promotion and your approach. (Marketers used to, and still do, pay huge amounts for focus groups for just such information. Create an audience for your blog and you have an incredible opportunity to hear directly from your stakeholders.)
• The opportunity to showcase your expertise, knowledge and know-how. Give away some of your knowledge on your blog. Prospective customers or clients will love you for it and come back for more information – and to work with you when the opportunity arises.
• Sales tools – send a link to your blog out to everyone you can think of. Hopefully, they will see the value in it and sign up on your RSS feed so that they can receive new content when you upload it.
• The opportunity to create an authentic conversation with your readers. (Don’t just talk at them, listen to what they have to say as well.)

For decades, companies have worked hard to generate media coverage and while it’s still very important – a blog gives you the opportunity to have your own media. And along with your blog, you can produce a podcast or a vodcast. This gives you a huge opportunity to start the conversation with your consumer base.

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting “how to” information about blogs – from who should blog to when you should blog and what you can write about. I will include some insider tips on blogging. Let me know if you have anything you would like me to write about. Or if you have tips you would like to include, send them to me! I would love to hear what you are doing at your blog!