Blogs have been around for a long time. My creative services firm, acadia creative has had a blog for years…because everyone had one. What did we ever actually DO with it? Well. Nothing. And that's just the problem. You see, the more I read about weblogs, blogs, bloggers, blogging, and so on, the more I realize what an incredibly powerful tool they are. And it makes me ask the real question…why WOULDN'T your business have a blog? The most popular two types of business blogs are SEO blogs (Search Engine Optimization), and Lead Generating blogs. We like them both, because both have a purpose. Each will have an impact on how often your information reaches and teaches your public. SEO blogs are written with keywords in mind. They are full of keyword rich content that the search engines are going to gobble up. They are harder for acopywriterto write, but easier for a search engine to find. Lead Generating blogs are written to create credibility in your business and a buzz about your product or service. While it will inherently contain "keywords" about your business and services, it is more topic-driven than the SEO-based blog. If you are still questioning the blogging culture, and whether it's right for you, then read on. Yes – Blogs USED to be very personal in nature. A place where you could post pictures of your dog and your grandma. But how about now? Is the world of blogging still for the pumpkin pie recipes and the knitting clubs? We don't think so and here's 10 reasons why. Blogs are easy to set-up.Blogs are an amazingly easy content management tool for business information. A blog can be created in a matter of minutes, and populated with tons of content about your business, your clients, and your expertise in just a few minutes more. Blog applications like WordPress or Blogger.com are free and offer predesigned templates for you to use. A blog can be branded with your logo and photos of your products or services with WYSIWYG tools that come with these online blog applications. Or, for a few bucks, a web design company can edit blogging applications to make your blog look just like your website. Blogs are a new way of communicating your message. Faster.Have you Googled anything lately? If you look closely, most of the results are actually referencing blog posts about whatever topic you are searching for. Do you know what that means? It means that search engines are indexing blog content FASTER and more often than they are indexing website content! So your blog could potentially be seen by more people than your website. This is a truly powerful moment for your business. Because now you have the ability to use your blog as one of your greatest, and least expensive marketing tools. Blogs are Viral Marketing at it's best.Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace aren't just for kids. They are a very powerful network of people who may need or know people who need your products or services. Most blogging software applications have plug-ins that will tie your networking sites right to your blog. Acadia creative uses WordPress plug-ins with Facebook and LinkedIn. It publishes posts as we write them to those pages for all to see. Another plug-in allows readers to share your content with just the click of a mouse. Did I mention how inexpensive blogging is? How about FREE. ‘Cuz that's what viral marketing is, folks. Cash in on it. Blogs build credibility.Your website says you sell foot pain relief products. But what do you know about foot pain? Blogging about something you know a lot about sends a clear message to your readers that you are an expert in what you sell. Be it a service, a product or what have you. If I'm having foot pain, and I can go to your blog and read in-depth articles about my condition and ways to treat it, using your products, then I am more inclined to click through to your website and see these products you speak of, and even more inclined to buy them. This method can be applied to just about anything. Blogs generate traffic to your website.See above! Blog about your business and create a buzz about what you do! Generating interest in your business is the first step to getting readers to seek more info by visiting your website. Blogs make it ridiculously easy to put calls to action IN action. Blogs can serve as a filter for contentBlogs aren't always generated by one person or company. There are blogs out there that filter and display content relevant to what readers are searching for. For instance, one blog could post 10 blogs worth of content about marketing your blog. Your content could be populated without any effort from you! How easy is that? In order to get involved, you can go tohttp://www.pingmyblog.comand add your blog to all the engines that feed content to the web. In one click. Have I mentioned how EASY and FREE this is? Blogs and Video can work together. And it's EASY!Blogs make it super easy to post a video of your product or service in action. If a picture is worth a thousand words, than imagine what you could say with a video! Your Enewsletter and your Blog can share content.You can save money and time by sharing the same content you are writing for your enewsletter on your blog. Blogs serve as a great way to archive newsletter content, and a great way to reach beyond your mailing list. You CAN make money with your Blog.Steve Pavlina has a great blog post here:http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/05/how-to-make-money-from-your-blog/Since he's an exceptional expert on this, we'll let him do the talking… Other Blogs are a great resource.Reading other blogs is a great way to generate topics or gain research for your own blog.Need a guide to follow as you begin your quest into the great blogosphere? Click here to readWe Know Blogs Small Business Blogging Basics. Like everything out there, there are some cons to blogs. Some folks have too much free time and post negative feedback (you can set up your blog to approve all posts before they actually get published), and there is definitely some legwork involved to get your blog out into cyberspace – traffic building is the key to your success. But the big brains atacadia creativedon't think the cons even come close to outweighing the pros. And for the price of an hour or two of our time… why WOULDN'T your business have a blog? Happy Blogging! Ali Goodwin, Main Brain at acadia creative ...read more