Many people will have heard of blogs but not have a very clear idea of what they are.  Before I discuss the various merits of blogging, I think a quick blog description shall be required…

Wikipedia has this description:

A blog (a contraction of the term “web log“)^[1] is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (Art blog), photographs (photoblog), videos (Video blogging), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.

What are the benefits of adding a blog to a website?

Blogging provides a means of creating useful content that is added frequently which promotes more visits to your site. A frequently maintained website or blog lets users know that you are active and current – that you haven’t just created your site 2 years ago and left it running with out of date material. A frequently updated website or blog promotes trust.

Blogging frequently can also create a community around your site. If you have useful information that you can share with the world, there are some people somewhere that will want to read it.  The fact that blogging encourages interaction through comments, means that you can actively engage with your audience and build relationships.  From a business point of view, this makes great sense.

One of the main differences between a regular website and a blog is this very nature of changing content. A website’s content will likely stay quite static and unchanging as it provides essential information about products or services that probably don’t change that much. However, if you are a specialist in your area, chances are you have a lot of knowledge that will be useful to people. A blog offers the opportunity for people to come back time and again, subscribe to email posts or RSS feeds of your posts and be kept up to date.

People who come to your site to read your blog for the information it provides may be persuaded to buy your products and services.

What to consider when planning the integration of a blog

Before you start a blog of your own, it’s useful to consider a number of things:

• What will you talk about? Is your business’s area of expertise narrow or wide?
• How much material will your chosen topics provide you with? Many bloggers run out of things to say after a while. Choosing your topics carefully can influence the longevity and effectiveness of your blog
• How frequently will you post? Do you have time constraints that might make blogging difficult or even impossible?
• If you’re not able to post regularly yourself, you could always look at delegating the responsibility to a member or members of your team to share the load.  If different members of your business have different specialties and skills, you could cover a range of related topics by different authors.
• Will you be able to moderate comments and provide feedback to your site visitors? Can you delegate this task, or will you disable commenting and interaction?
• Who are your target audience? What kind of tone will you employ in your writing?
• What do you want your blog to achieve? Closer customer relations, more site traffic, more sales, income from advertising?
• If you want to implement Google AdSense advertisements on your site, be aware that competitors ads may get shown.