Why Should I Blog?

Recently I've been chatting with a client of mine about the business case for blogging. In her case, she's a business development consultant who's trying to establish herself as a thought leader and expand her influence beyond her very successful Washington DC/Northern VA speaking circuit.

The advice I gave may well apply to you too--regardless of your niche.

Here goes.

Spread your influence.
Having your own blog can be a net benefit, especially in terms of your becoming a recognized thought leader that reaches out beyond your immediate face-to-face audiences.

As things stand right now, you only reach out to the people you speak to face to face--your audiences at your speaking events, your corporate training session attendees, and, of course, the folks you meet from day to day and in networking situations.

But no one else.

• No one outside of your geographic location.
• No one in cyberspace.
• No one even within your geographic location who hasn't had the opportunity to meet you or see you speak.

None of these potential clients--not one of 'em!--has even a chance to meet you and see what you have to offer to them.

But is blogging worth it?
You may say that blogging and other forms of content production = time and money.

True.

But so does most business development and PR.

Besides, as you'll read below, blogging is quick and easy. And since time is money, quick is cheap.

It's just a question of whether you think it's a strategy that will work for you or not. If you think it'll work, do it. If not, I advise against it.

Don't rely on other people blogging about you.
Some folks say that other people's blog posts about you are far more valuable than you blogging for yourself. While at first blush that seems true, I'd rethink that.

Essentially, relying on third parties blogging about you is highly unreliable because you're ultimately putting your success in others' hands.

• You're not in the driver's seat.
• You're not the one making the news.
• You're relying on third parties and middlemen.

When, however, you or your company representatives proactively blog or put out regular Web content in some way, the tables are turned:

• You're in the driver's seat.
• You're driving the news.
• You ARE the media.

If it's good, others will notice and will link to it, quote it, call you, spread the buzz etc. etc. and your influence spreads and business grows. It can be a huge contributor to groundswell impact.

It's super easy.
So, want to get your ideas out?

Sure you do.

Want to increase the number of possible conversions you make in a month, a week, a day?

A no-brainer.

Want to get in front of more eyes with a simple 15-minute time investment once every week or two? (Seriously, I practice what I preach).

[The crowd goes wild.]

Simply write out a thought a week--just a few sentences--and post it on your blog.

It's that easy.

No go and do it.