Many people are getting into blogging for several reasons. Not unlike diaries that people have used to record and share accounts of their lives, blogging still uses that same concept, it has now evolved into several categories and usage.

Nowadays, blogging is synonymous to online marketing. Bloggers not only publish contents reflecting their moods for the day or sharing what they have done for the past few weeks but also advertise and create a steady flow of communication with their audience. More so, through the use of blogging, some people are now able to find an alternative in making money. Blogging is an excellent opportunity for generating income, both directly and indirectly. And as a business owner, an indirect revenue stream would be engaging your community and growing your business by sharing information relevant to your industry.

The Blog

Before you even start to create you own blog. It is necessary to know what blog really is. While I am sure many of you are aware of what a blog is, I have to say that I met with a client last week who did not. And it occurred to me that assuming that everyone understands technology, what it is and how it works, is very presumptuous. The term blog is actually derived from the word Weblog or Web log. Back in the days, around the late 1990’s, these Web logs were utilized by users to track updates and references to other resources online. They served as journals, which made them useful as a publishing tool for the user’s stream of consciousness. Of course, the readers can still comment and share their thoughts on just abut anything under the sun.

Technically, blogs are also known as CMS or Content Management Systems. Being a CMS, blogs allow the writers to easily publish to a specific Web site and manage the content without the need of having to deal with the program code. Publishing software also provides users with a GUI or Graphical User Interface for easy pointing and clicking of their articles. Through the use of easy-to-do procedures, you can perform configuration and set up, which can ease your job as a blogger since the tool can automatically organize your published articles the next time you publish.

Using WordPress as a CMS

There are several different platforms that can be used for a CMS or blogging platform. My choice is WordPress, and according to current statistics, that is true of more than 50% of the top million sites on the internet. As many businesses have started to blog, they have created a WordPress website for blogging which then links to their company website. I believe that your blog should be a page on your company website, and using WordPress as a CMS – with all of the functionality it offers – makes this possible.

The Advantage of Blogging

The main question is; why should you start blogging? The first thing you need to know is that blogging can enhance and support your online communications. However, you must first understand the outcome of your blog that you desire in order to attain success. The main reason why you should start blogging, is that it can be both an excellent outlet for your frustrations or excitement and profitable at the same time.

It does not mean that if you are not into blogging, you should not blog. Being in a business, especially those with dealings on the Internet, requires you to establish a clientele that are actually interested with your services. Blogs can do this easily due to its accessibility and being an excellent medium for marketing that it is, blogs are essential for businesses.

More so, if you are handling a business, there is good chance that your competition is blogging about their products and services. This is an easy method for you to examine the competition and what their clients’ preferences are. Additionally, blogs can create strong customer relationships since your target market can easily and directly communicate with the authority within your business.

This kind of opportunity is hard to resist since a strong customer relationship can eventually lead to lasting trust to your product and services; hence, eventual increase in your revenue. And I won’t even begin to explain how adding fresh content to your website can help your search engine rankings, that’s a whole different article.

If you have not updated your business website in a while, and are considering blogging, let us know. We would love to show you what’s possible in putting it all together!