16 Reasons to Blog for your Business

1. Blogging makes you a better writer (thinker, speaker) by forcing you to put your thoughts about your business into shared, understandable forms.
2. A website with a blog gets 55% more traffic than a website without a blog.
3. You are proud of what your business does and want people to know about it. 75% of Web users read blog content.
4. Blogging makes it easy for your customers to get to know you.
5. Having a blog gives customers a place to give you feedback, where feedback is invited.
6. Blogging helps create discipline; a blogging schedule or editorial calendar can help you maintain your focus.
7. Being a blogger automatically puts you in a community of people who blog — you will be welcome at conferences, meetups and other gatherings where like-minded people congregate.
8. By writing about your business often, you have the opportunity to refine your message to your audience, improving along the way.
9. If you communicate using your blog often, then when there’s something urgent to communicate, your audience will know where to find the information, and in most cases, will already be paying attention.
10. A blog can provide a look into the inner workings of the business, a chance to get to know the people behind it and what the business means to them. Blogging makes business personal.
11. A blog is an opportunity to share what you know, to demonstrate thought leadership in your industry or about your product. Go ahead; show off.
12. Search engines need a blog to find you. OK, that’s not strictly true but a frequently updated blog with well-written headlines, focused content and tagged entries is like crack for search engines. Go get some Google juice.
13. Blogging is only a commitment in time; it is the most affordable way to market your services.
14. It’s much easier than you think; and chances are, you’re already developing the blog content in e-mails, newsletters, marketing materials, etc. Get that content out on the searchable Web.
15. It doesn’t have to be written to be a blog. For those of you intimidated by the writing, buy a webcam and just talk. Video is an excellent way to tell your story.
16. People value information; sometimes blogs begin as a way for a business to keep the company’s team members informed. Twitter started that way — as an internal communications vehicle. Keep your team in the loop with regular blog posts.

In short, there’s no reason NOT to blog for your business. Get busy blogging.