Service provider? There's no easier way to let people know what you're doing and how to get in touch with you. You can present your services online and slash the wasted mileage you often have to do.
Hotelier, gite or guest house owner? A blog telling people what's on in your area will undoubtedly bring you more visitors. Share your local knowledge and people will choose you above your competition.
Specialists in any field can share their knowledge, pre-qualify new clients, communicate, test ideas...
But, you might say, can't you do all that through other methods? Isn't that what standard websites do?
Well there's always more than one way to accomplish any task, but when you're in business, or looking to start a business, you want efficient and cost-effective - and there's nothing more efficient and cost-effective than business blogging.
For a start, your entry costs are tiny. The traditional way for off-line business to get known locally would normally include a yellow pages advert. Starting your blog will cost way less than that and the reach isn't just local, it's worldwide.
It's also relatively easy to do. You don't want to be wrestling with website design programs for weeks - you've got better things to do. With blogging you don't have to. If you can bash at the keyboard with a couple of fingers and do a bit of copy and paste you'll be fine! A little knowledge of html will come in useful somewhere down the line but you can get your blog up and running and drawing in the crowds first and then worry about fine tuning later.
Your business blog can be anything you need it to be. It can support your existing business or it can be a business in its own right and an additional revenue stream. It won't cost the earth and it needn't tie you to your computer day and night. Like anything in business it will take the consistent application of effort but if all you've got to give it is a couple of hours a week that's still enough to make a noticeable difference in a surprisingly short space of time.
More effort will bring greater reward. It's one of the big advantages of professional blogging that each and every thing you do improves your business.
The effort you put in will reward you with clients who feel that they know you. They'll have more confidence in you which, frankly, is more likely to result in them parting with their cash. However you slice it, blogging build better businesses!
