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Every Solo Business Owner Needs a Blog!
“Blog” is a term used to shorten the practice of posting content to a “web log.” A blog is like an Internet online diary of sorts. It is a platform on which a writer can express him/herself in any number of ways.
Remember that the solo business owner is generally an independent, a free spirited thinker, one who prefers to do business alone without the constraints of employees, physical overhead, or management induced policies and rules.
This is exactly the profile of a successful blogger: one that is not shy about forming his own biases and opinions based on his life experiences and then publishing and sharing his knowledge and ideas with other like-minded “nichers” that hunger for the same type of information.
The blog format lends itself nicely to the busy schedule and limited writing time available to the solo operator.
He can log into his blog creation software online at any time, day or night, home or away and create his post, publish it, and be done with the task in a matter of minutes if he keeps the posts brief.
The blog can be served up as an “area” or page on the owner’s business web site, or it can be hosted as either a sub-domain of the business site or an altogether detached and autonomous site with its own URL.
The blog of a business owner can have a number of purposes, all of which lend themselves nicely to complementing or supplementing the regular offerings of the business, whether they be products or services.
The business owner / blog author can target all these web site and traffic advantages as the purpose or reason for his blog:
The 12 top advantages of a solo entrepreneur blog:
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Answer reader’s questions in the niche as an “expert” or niche authority,
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Drive traffic to the main web site upon blog post recommendations,
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Suggest products or services that the business sells and link to their descriptions or direct sales pages,
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Mention business events, news, product releases, special sales, etc. within the daily posts,
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Carry advertising for the business in its banners, display ads, text linking, etc.
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Carry affiliate sales links in the blog content as a further revenue stream,
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Give “how to” information about the business product uses, services, policies, or the specific niche the business deals in,
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Can generate feedback and comments from readers as the source of new product and service ideas for the business,
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Help to humanize the business and and expose the personality of the owner so that the prospects will trust and have more confidence in purchasing from the business,
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Can be a means of giving special incentives, discounts, coupons, etc to the blog readers as a marketing strategy to sell more niche products of the main business.
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Blogging is easy. It’s a very high ROI time investment for the blog owner.
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It offers a platform for the owner to highlight or showcase guest bloggers and other authorities to add to the credibility and relevance of the owner’s business.
I’m sure there are other advantages that I haven’t mentioned. With the ease, speed, and usefulness of today’s blog platforms, small solo info business owners would do well to get blogging as soon as possible!
Where do you begin? I have used a number of various blog platforms and softwares. Right now, WordPress is my choice as the best tool for a small business owner blog.
WordPress is free, there are many, many themes available (both free and paid), and there are a ton of various plug-ins for WordPress (both free and paid) that will enhance the bloggers ability to write, design, and publish the blog. Best of all, WordPress is pretty intuitive and easy to master – no steep learning curve here!
To your online business success!
Steve Browne
www.stevebrownedirect.com
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