Small Business Blogging

Why the *&^%$ aren’t more businesses blogging? And even more frustrating, why don’t I see more small business blogging?

I’m a firm believer in blogs as marketing tools. An advocate, even. And I’m continually amazed at how many businesses still don’t use blogs as such. Whether you’re striving for search engine optimization or thought leadership or both, you should be blogging. Period.

I’m such an advocate for blogs as marketing tools, I work as a ghost blogger for some clients. Some people have an issue with that, they think blogs should be written by the CEO or whomever. But they’re missing the point of blogs as marketing tools. That’s great if your CEO can write intelligently about topics people want to hear about, using the keywords that matter most to you in the search wars. But it ain’t gonna fly if that CEO lacks the time and/or ability. Especially if your reason for blogging is getting found online. And for most businesses, especially small businesses, that should be your number one reason for using blogs as marketing tools.

So some of my copywriting clients have me ghost write their blogs, and I work hard to make sure the content is compelling and useful, and the keywords are used the way they need to be. One client’s blog has been very successful, getting noticed and subscribed to by experts in the industry, even though our primary reason for blogging is SEO. (And we’re doing well there two. Last time I checked, we are on the first SERP in Google for our two top keywords, and on the second page for another keyword.)

If this client relied on the CEO or someone else at the company to blog, it would rarely happen, the content wouldn’t be as rich, and the SEO results wouldn’t be as good. I as the ghost blogger make sure I write three posts a week for them, so the frequency is there. I work hard to learn about the issues and provide useful content in a well-written way. And I am able to use keywords, because I’m an SEO copywriter. The result? The client scores big time with me as the ghost blogger, without ever having to worry about whether it’s getting done or not.

Small business blogging is particularly cost-effective marketing and SEO, especially as more and more people go online to find local businesses. If someone’s searching for a coffee shop with free WiFi in Kent, Washington, or a tavern in Burlington, Washington, that coffee shop owner or tavern owner will do well to blog and win those local searches. Search engines favor blogs over static Websites, meaning small business blogging can even take the place of a Website for some small businesses.

Are you small business blogging? If so, tell me about it! If not, tell me why not?

Comments for In support of ghost blogging and small business blogging

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 by Matt Krause:: I definitely agree that more small businesses should be blogging, but perhaps one reason more aren't is people are working in their businesses, not on their businesses (credit to the E-myth book for that distinction). If I am the tavern owner in Burlington, I might be swamped today because the box of limes the driver delivered this morning was moldy, and the toilet is leaking in the women's bathroom, and Shel might not show up for work today, because he has the flu. In that case, the last thing I see is a good reason to sit down at a computer and write a blog, that silly stuff is for kids and unemployed people. For a guy like that, the ghost blogging you talk about sounds like a great option, god blesss the ghost writers!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009 by Chris Baggott:: @Matt Sounds like a true small business owner...or at least someone who gets it. Small Business has a lot of fires to put out. They need to look for every source to find content. That includes employees, customers and ghost writers like Sharon.