Okay, so maybe this is stating the obvious, but blogging has become one of the most important tools for building a business through audience, and it’s about time we all took a moment to reflect on why. Of course, I’m blogging right now… and now… making this a meta commentary. If you went to a liberal arts college, you will probably be falling all over yourself at the stunning post-modernism. If you didn’t, you’re probably annoyed. Sorry, I’ll move on.

First off, blogging matters because it’s content. Content is what the Internet is made of. It’s the stuff we consume, and we’re all hungry consumers. Content is information and, on the Internet, good, meaningful, non-fluff information is currency.  As more blogs appear every day, the heap of content begins to self-sort. What do you think rises to the top? The good, meaningful, non-fluff information that people actually care to read.

So, quality brings readers. Readers bring business. It’s a very simple equation yet so few people are really working to create blogs worth reading. In part, this is due to the hard work, writing acumen, and creativity that good writing requires. This would be a problem if it weren’t for the thousands of unemployed writers out there. So the problem isn’t finding a writer, the problem is prioritizing writing.

So, step one: write (or hire someone to write) good content. Invest in your company blog because it reflects directly on your company. Again, this is obvious. So why aren’t more people concerned with quality over quantity? I blame the search engines.

The search engines (Google) are the reason blogs became such valuable tools in the first place. Sure, good writing has always had innate value, but on the Internet, static content won’t bring in readers all on its own. With Google’s indexing and the preferential treatment Google began to bestow on fresh, new content, blogging took off, and not in a good way. For a long while (and still, to some extent, today) simply posting new paragraphs of semi-legible writing got Google’s attention. This prompted a huge increase in quantity without much of an increase in quality and, at the beginning, everyone was happy because everyone saw increased traffic. Of course, what happened next was the same thing we will see over and over again… the good content stuck around while the rest, well, didn’t.

Again, this is partly thanks to Google. As Google tweaked the algorithm to identify content that was actually read (based on traffic), it sorted the good stuff from the bad. Still, there is no shortage of poorly-written content. This is actually a great thing for the serious business writer. In a sea of bad writing, it’s not too difficult to rise up and get noticed.

This illustrates the importance of quality, but what about the other benefits of blogging? For starters, a regularly updated blog shows potential clients several things. It shows them that you are serious about building your company. It shows them that you care about sharing relevant news. It shows them that you are interested in having a dialogue. In the relatively impersonal online marketplace, engaging with potential clients about subjects other than what you’re selling creates a connection. It builds trust. The more you can foster non-sales-based connection, the more your potential clients will want to support your company and the more conscious of your clients’ needs your company will be. Let’s face it: we are all world-weary consumers. We all need a break from the sales pitch. How refreshing to find that breath of fresh air on a commercial site!

This is a little bit delicate. You may be wondering how you’re supposed to convert readers to clients if you never mention your products or services. Good point. It is important to communicate what you’re selling. We do it here. But we also work to provide plenty of other content that isn’t self-serving. In the rapid-fire world of technology there is always something that is both news-worthy and relevant to our web hosting services. By combining the two, we remind readers about who we are while offering more than a sales pitch. Really though: don’t worry too much about this. If someone is reading your blog, they’re already on your site. Let the rest of the site do the selling.

A blog doesn’t just provide your clients or potential clients with information, it also provides your employees with a window into the company, and with a forum for sharing their own observations and knowledge. Essentially, the blog creates a social network around your business. Convinced yet?

We welcome your suggestions about how we can make our company blog better. What would you like to read about? What posts do you like or dislike? We got all metaphysical with this because we believe in practicing what we preach. Amen.