There has been a lot of conversation lately about blog use, and I am consistently on the “pro” side.  Blogs help your website visibility tremendously.  But with that said, I like to point out that for your business it is best to stick to marketing and product related subjects. 

The goal of a marketing blog is to be as helpful to your visitors as possible.  It engenders good will in the same way that having excellent customer service solidifies customer loyalty.  It shows your visitors that you are willing to provide something useful to them without charge, and that you respect the fact that they have a choice of vendors.  Whatever business you are in, there is just no down side to this strategy.

But a personal blog does have advantages, too.  Since I consistently receive questions about this, I created a personal blog a little while back that is NOT located on my business site.  One Extraordinary Thing engages readers in topics that are off the subject of business.  But the blog still has a stated goal:  to find one moment in each day that is worth celebrating, no matter how small.  With that goal I can cover a wide range of topics.  As I monitor which posts get the most click-through and comments, I can get a better sense of what readers respond to and write blog entries accordingly.  That process can be accomplished no matter what goal or topic you pick, and there are hundreds of thousands of blogs out there to use as examples.

Either way, marketing blog or personal blog, your name and your business name continue to gain exposure.  Just one caution:  I am not a fan of creating controversy.  That opinion can rightly be contested; some say that controversial blog writing is the only way to stir up passions.  Remember that your business blog readers will often also be personal blog readers, and then decide what standards are important to you.

Tags: Blog Entries, blog writing, business blog, marketing blog, personal blog