Top 5 Reasons to Have a Blog for Your Business

Based in Cambridge, HubSpot is a pioneer in the concept of inbound marketing. For our Ten Golden Rules book club I’m currently reading HubSpot co-founders, Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah’s, Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs. There’s lots of actionable information packed into this book all focused on harnessing the power of inbound marketing. Below I have extracted 5 tips focused on why you should have a blog for your business. For those of you contemplating the idea, learn why you should have a blog with these 5 reasons:

1. A blog will establish your company as a thought leader.

2. Due to its dynamic nature and the fact that you’re creating new content on a regular basis, a blog will change your website from an online brochure to a living, breathing hub for your marketplace.

3. A blog gives your potential customers a way to engage with you versus being hit with a premature sales pitch.

4. The idea is to pull your industry in with neutral, brilliant content in the hope that prospects connect the dots down the road, and see that you are the most thoughtful person in your industry on the topic, and eventually buy from you.

5. The great thing about a blog article is that the page, the Google rankings, the links, and the subscriber are all durable assets. A blog is a durable asset that delivers durable value that lasts.

The key to inbound marketing is to create lots of content that your potential customers will find valuable. In essence, you will function as a magnet to your potential customers. You want to make your company is so irresistible to your visitors that when they have the need for your service, they automatically have your business top of mind.

Why do you believe blogs are important for businesses? Please leave your comments below.

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Image credit: Doug Waldron

Promote Your Blog with a Blidget

Got a blog? Why not promote it with a Blidget! A blidget is simply a widget which updates itself along with your blog's RSS feed.

Widgetbox allows you to create free blidgets to put on your website, blog, Facebook, Twitter or Myspace profile. You can customize the look and feel of your blidget by adding a title, subtitle, tags and by changing the color of your blidget.

Blidgets are useful in promoting your blog because it creates an eye-catching way to access your blog. You can reach out to related bloggers in the blogosphere and trade blidgets just like you would trade blogroll links. Other bloggers and their readers can stay up to date with your blog's content wherever the blidget is added and will visit your blog to read more if they are interested in what you have to say.