Wise “Why’s” of Blogging for Business

“But everybody’s doing it!” was never a successful pitch when it came to Mom letting me do something back in school days.  And, frankly, “everybody’s doing it” isn’t a very good reason for starting and maintaining a business blog, either.
Business owners, I find, start blogs (or have me start one for them) for different reasons, too. At Say It For You, we spend a great deal of time discussing business blogging, particularly with entrepreneurs who’ve heard about blogging but aren’t completely sold on the strategy.
One of my idols, Seth Godin, says he’s noticed the same thing about the variety of motivations business people have getting into any new activity, blogging included.  There are four types of people in the world, Godin remarks.  Some people want to do things because those things are interesting.  Some people want to do things because everyone else is doing those things.  Some people are too satisfied, too scared, too shy, or too lazy to do anything.  And then, says Godin, some people want to do things because those things work!
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/10/kinds-of-people.html
Blog content writing is definitely not for the lazy or scared, or even the too-satisfied. Maintaining an effective business blog is simply too difficult and challenging to undertake just because it’s an interesting thing to do, or even because everyone else is doing it. That leaves just one valid reason – blogging works!
But, does it always?  Of course not. Your customers and prospects encounter content every day. Some of it’s good, most of it is forgotten immediately, says Sean Royer of Social Media Today. It is your job, Royer adds, to make sure that your business content is remembered and has a positive impact on your customers. But if you’re still debating whether to pour effort and resources into creating and maintaining a blog, he says, “the answer is, of course, a resounding YES.”
http://socialmediatoday.com/seanroyer/2007981/blogging-really-necessary-marketing-tool

Content marketing is now an essential component of an effective SEO campaign, because Google values high quality content,” confirms Seb Atkinson of Social Media Explorer.
http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/content-marketing-2/how-to-double-your-marketing-effectiveness-by-combining-content-marketing-and-social/

Some “why’s” of blogging listed by quickstudy.com include:

A blog provides an online platform where you can express your point of view.
A blog is a low-cost marketing tool that will reinforce and enhance all the other marketing you do.
Your blog can be emailed as a newsletter, and can also serve as inspiration for content on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other networks.
Each new post you write is an opportunity to attract search engine attention.

Don’t create a blog just because “everyone else is doing it”.  There are plenty of wise why’s for blogging for business!