The Marketing Monsoon System™

What’s the Real Value of having blog or being sites like Twitter, Facebook? – Ben

That’s a great question! I’d like to answer the unspoken question as well, “Is blogging worth the time it takes to do it?” There are many reasons having a blog is a good idea for a business owner. It’s become common knowledge that a blog, Twitter account and Facebook page can help you increase business.

The fact is that less than 50% of businesses have even a simple website, never mind a blog. The real dilemma I see for business owners is that it takes a lot of time to write a blog, something most business owners aren’t prepared to do. Yet most will say they plan to market their business online in the coming year. The problem is they don’t know what to write and they don’t know how they’ll find the time.

The real value of blogging and social media is marketing yourself and your business. Think about your current advertising and marketing budget. How’s it working for you? If you are paying big dollars for offline advertising, like print, radio or direct mail you’ll like the price tag of blogging and creating a web presence. You can do it pretty much for peanuts, often with much better results.

Think about when you last looked for a business in the Yellow Pages? Now, think about that last time you used Google or Yahoo to search online to find a business. For most of us the old Yellow Pages has been collecting dust on the shelf (or in the recycle bin.)

The real value of blogging and social media is getting your name out there online and have it connected with your niche topic and keywords. That way when your prospective customer is searching for information about your topic you have a chance of being found. The more content you have online in the form of a blog or in social media the more liking those searches will come to you.

Blogging is about establishing yourself as a market leader and a credible expert in your field – and, of course, attracting that target market to you. You have to use your blog strategically though or you’ll waste a lot of time, money and effort. By strategic, I mean that you must target and organize your blogging around your specific niche, target market and keyword phrases.

Most business owners will not take the time to blog because the results are less immediate than making a sales call. What they don’t know is taking time today to set up an online lead generating system that includes a blog and using social media will save huge amounts of time later on. That’s because their web system, once set up, will be attracting, engaging and following up with qualified prospects on autopilot (i.e. clients coming in with very little addition effort)

Ok, so there’s still the time issue. The answer? Create a system. Set up a system to blog so that it takes you less than an hour a week to keep your blog and online lead generation system updated with content that will attract your audience. You’ll increase your credibility, your authority and your close rate when you have a presence online. That system can include using available technology and/or outsourcing to minimize the amount of time you need to spend directly. (Hint: A new, yet to be released, Marketing Monsoon product will show you exactly how to set up that system)

Find more tips and ideas about blogging and setting up a lead generation system on my website. http://www.marketingmonsoon.com. Coming soon:  ”Constant Content: A Guide to Blogging for Busy Business Owners” the newest Marketing Monsoon product.

Do you have a blog now? What is your biggest challenge with blogging as a business owner?