Blogging is becoming more and more popular at explosive rates - both in business and personal worlds.  Churches and missionaries also use blogs to post reports and updates.  It is a medium that is crossing generations.  MySpace is one of the most famous and controversial sites.  It is a way of staying in touch for everyone.  There are a number of good benefits to blogging in the business realm. 

1.  Connecting with clients and customers.  Blogging provides a place to post updated information on products and current events.  It is a modern and electronic newsletter.
2.  Public relations and marketing.  Blogging is a way to provide samples of work and products.  It is an excellent area to express your expertise on topics related to your business.  It can serve as a great place to post frequently asked questions.
3.  Increasing search engine optimization (SEO) and rankings.  Search engines like Google and Yahoo gather and rank their information on sites that have current content posted.  The search engines crawl your links and URLs connecting you literally to the world in the World Wide Web.  There are a number of services that offer to "ping" the search engines to announce your update.  A couple of free services include:  Ping-o-Matic! and Pingoat.  You can fill in your blog information, check off the search engines you would like to be pinged, and bookmark the page for easy updating later as it will save your information.  For additional tips, you may also find it helpful to read my previous entry on Submitting to Search Engines.  If you do not find satisfying results, there are a number of other services you can conduct an internet search for that require varying fees to help with your SEO and rankings.
4.  Creating discussions.  It is a forum for venting and allowing feedback.  It is a place to present your thoughts on subject matters related to your business.
5.  It is informal.  Blogging is a casual communication tool that typically is "short and sweet."  While it is informal, it should be concisely written and formatted.
6.  It is FREE.  There are a number of places to start a blog and connect it to your business Website.  One is to consult your hosting and web developing company.  Another is to set it up through a number of free blog services online and link it to your Website.  A couple of examples of free blog services include:  WordPress and Blogger.  They offer templates that make it easy to set up and develop content.
7.  Networking online.  Visiting other blogs is a great networking avenue.  Politely posting comments on other blogs introduces yourself and your business to others.  Asking permission to link to their articles on your blog promotes both them and you.  It is a win-win networking solution.
8.  Source of Revenue.  Many use blogs as a place to post ads through sources like Google AdSense and make extra money.  Your blog site definitely needs to have the traffic for this to be profitable.

A well developed blog requires time and maintenance to be an effective tool.  Writing the content and articles may require research and may seem like writing a paper for school, but the benefits make it well worth the effort.  A great way to stay on top of topics that are of interest to you and your business is to set up Google Alerts.  A couple of other links to articles are:  Article City and Ezine Articles. 

If you need help starting or maintaining your blog, please let me know.  Blog maintenance is one of the virtual assistant services I offer.

Just a Few Other Recent and Related Articles:

~ How to use Blogs in the Workplace by Rod Boothby with innovation Creators
~ SEO Benefits from Blogs by Steve Terjeson with Ironvine Search Marketing
~ SEO Benefits from Blogs by Lee Odden with Top Rank Online Marketing
~ Company blogs hold benefits, pitfalls by Christopher Scribner with Oakland Business Review
~ Blogs help break business barriers by Stacy Vogel with GazetteXtra