By Max St John
1. Increased traffic
If what you blog is interesting and valuable, other bloggers should link to you, (though it might take a while before people spot you). Likewise, you'll probably be linking to blog posts elsewhere, in which case you should be commenting on them too. All this can increase traffic to your blog and your site.
2. Improve search rankings
More links to and from your blog tell the all-important search bots at Google, Yahoo etc that your site's got something of value, pushing you up the rankings. Blogging also means more regularly updated content on your site, another way the search engines determine how to rank you.
3. Build your reputation
If your blog becomes seen as a source of useful, interesting or entertaining information, so does the person or brand putting it in front of the reader. Word of mouth goes a long way, quickly, and if people like what they read, they're likely to recommend you to their friends or colleagues.
4. Cost-effective marketing
The only cost involved in running a blog is your time. While the old adage 'time is money' might be true, if your blog's really successful it could generate just as much interest and clicks as a paid-for advertising campaign.
5. Get valuable feedback
A blog isn't a one-way conversation – if it’s read by a sizeable audience you'll get comments and criticisms. Feedback, good or bad, helps you further improve your blog, website content or even your products and services. It also gives you the opportunity to directly confront any negative issues rather than remain oblivious while being torn to shreds behind your back.
Think you might start a blog? Well, hold your horses and think before you blog >