Blogging for Business

or – Testing how much you paid attention in English Class ..

This is the inaugural post for the the Bravotechpc Blog Page. So the inevitable question is, why? What good does a blog do? The answers are both simple and complex. I will start with the simple one: A blog allows you to be seen not only as a professional in your industry, but also as a potential trusted resource.

Now the longer explanation:

Human Consumption

Blogs are great not only for human eyes but for

electronic ones as well. On the human side, you have to remember that you are trying to provide a service in exchange for consideration as a top-of-mind resource for anything your client might be interested in. If you sell widgets, you want to write a blog about widgets in the workplace, possibly with advertising reminding your potential clients that you have widgets for sale.

Blogs allow you to push product, services, concepts, and ideas with a pretty wrapping that allows readers to be educated and not “sold”. The upside for the writer is that contacts coming FROM the blog are generally interested in you more than someone you may have prospected. Considering that blogs work the same schedule as business websites, (all the time), you have a sales rep working on your behalf 100% of every day!

A good blog tells your reader that, ultimately, you are the best in the business. If you are writing for a nonprofit, you tell your reader that your cause is “most just.” A well written blog can be a powerful ally in your quest to gain more attention.

I emphasized “well written” for a reason. A great concept or product can go completely to waste if your reader is turned off by your language. This doesn’t mean that you have to use the “Queen’s English,” or have a Master’s Degree in English or Composition, but you do have to 1) be understandable, 2) use correct spelling and grammar and, 3) use language that best suits your audience. Every computer has a spell checker; and most writers use it. What they tend NOT to check for is proper use of language. There is a monumental difference between “to,” “two,” and “too.”   Additionally, you would be well served to have some third person view and edit your document before you post. What sounds good in your head, doesn’t always come out the right way in public. To help minimize those errors, it would be good to plan your document using an outline. That way you know you have a beginning, middle and end. Once the outline is to the proper standards, you can move on to filling it in.

A well written and well developed blog not only gives your human readers a clear picture of what you are trying to get to them, but it also helps build your electronic presence in the internet.

Electronic Visibility

Electronic Visibility refers to the collection of search engines on the internet. Content, as far as as these programs, (Google, Bing, and so on,) are concerned, is golden. As you write more and more, your content becomes visible to these search engines. The benefit of this lies in the fact that when a potential customer looks up information related to your endeavors, you have a better chance of being seen near or at the top of the screen. This additional exposure gives you a better chance of being picked by the seeker.

Making yourself visible to these engines is, at the basic level, easy; write a lot of good content. Be aware that you don’t want to “stuff” your blog with key words, or you may find yourself penalized from Google, often considered the standard-bearer of this group. Google has put out algorithms, known as “Penguin,” and “Panda,” that specifically look for sites that try to abuse the system. The end result is often a loss in search ranking that is hard to recover from. (You can learn more about Penguin and Panda.)

Systems like Penguin and Panda deal with a lot more than just content, but the essential thing to remember is this; write a good and useful blog, and for the most part you should be ok. There are ways, however to increase your visibility without invoking the “wrath of the vengeful and vindictive search monster,” but that gets a little more complex, and falls outside the scope of this article.

[Shameless Plug: This is where having a provider like  Bravotechpc comes in handy. We specialize in hosting and helping you build and maintain your website and Blog. If you feel like you might need some help getting this up and running, don’t be afraid to contact us!]

If you can master the art of key words, link building, metadata, and page rankings, you can harness your blog to gain more and more eyes. As additional income generators, you can add links to your page that will allow you extra income, just because someone comes through your page. This starts to get into complicated territory; I will address it in the future. For now, just be aware that aside from the obvious, there are other opportunities for your blog to repay you for your effort.

What to expect from Bravotechpc’s Blog in the future

In future posts, you will find articles on building the best home office, the use of social media in business, developing a cohesive computer use policy, as well as a number of other subjects in many technological and sociological fields. I will also periodically answer questions from our readers, as well as occasionally promote our customers.

[Bravotechpc.com is a full service technical support company that caters to small and mid sized businesses, as well as the remote and home office worker. We build and support office networks, internet websites, and custom solutions to help save time and money.]