Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Blogging and Business: Going Beyond Online Diary



Here are reasons why entrepreneurs should start thinking about creating a blog. 

1. Low-cost to absolutely-Free. Yes, the software and web hosting is free. There is Xanga, Blogger, Wordpress, b2Evolution and Blog-city to name a few. Plus you get your own business name right at the front compared to other free web hosting. By having a businessname.free-host.com site name gives you more chances of getting a search hit than having your business name after the web host company. For images, other sites offer uploads such as Flickr, Imageshack and Photobucket. 

These images can be linked to your blog to save on bandwidth.  For a very minimal annual fee, you can upload files and change the template of your website. In addition, deleting a blog is easy (with no commitment to the web hosting company) if you're working on a temporary website as an ad-hoc solution of your company. 

2. Online Marketing Tools at your fingertips. You can create an analysis of how many people viewed your site and who left a message in the comments and shout box. Plus, you can create a survey by using online polls. B2Evolution offers free plug-ins such as Mini Stats, Multi-lingual capabilities and online registration. 

3. Customize. Some web hosting offer free customization features to make your blog interactive. Let's say you wish to publish a book and wanted publishers to see samples of your work. Blogger offers a step by step process on how to customize your blog to make that online-book-feel without hiring a web designer! 

4. Networking. Armed with a website to market your service or product, you can now easily join online communities you've ever wanted. Joining affiliations or online organizations will boost customer awareness, your site's traffic and increase the chances of your site making it to the first page of let's say, a Google search engine. 

Going beyond the typical online diary concept of blogging, larger companies use business blogs as a feedback tool and knowledge sharing for customers and employees. If not for a small fee, a blog is offered for free. Thus, small or even start-up companies can use blogs to gain media exposure in the internet. Or create market interest in Australia, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa. 

So what are you waiting for? Starting a blog is very easy. 

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