Blogging for Business
I started with my static site for my home inspection business. It made sense to me at the time, but I came to see that a blog created an environment that I felt suited my needs. I could organize my writings better, as well as easily update information, and my SEO could be improved. There are aspects to my static site that I like, and that is the reason that I continue to maintain it; however, there is one factor about a blog that appeals to me: the comment section. Creating a dialog with the consumer is vital for any firm, and what better format than in a blog.
I am still working with the possibilities of this site, so I am looking around the net at how other professionals have developed their blogs. In part, I was looking to create some backlinks through commenting, but I have a tendency to search out blogs that interest me. You will find me commenting on anthropological, gardening, and tech blogs among others, which might not be the best sites for creating links to a home inspection site. However, I am coming across an increasing phenomenon on blogs set up by small businesses: turning the comments off. Why would you set up a blog, and refuse the conversation? About twenty percent of the business blogs that I visited yesterday had their comments disabled. One person that I know was mad that he kept receiving spam in his comments, which caused him to consider disabling comments, but he knew that defeated the purpose of his site.
If you do not want to encourage conversations with your audience, then the blog format is not for you. Think of the message that you are sending to the consumer. They come to your site and read a post. The post causes them to have a question or some other comment, and they discover that they cannot contact you by this simple method, because there is a notice that the comments have been turned off. You may have another means for them to reach you, but you just made an impression. Your first chance to make a connection, and you said that you do not want one. What does this say about your service? If you cannot deal with comments on your site, how will you be in private? If you do not wish comments, then do not use a blog.
It may be a bit more work updating a static site with new posts, but it is not really that hard. If you just wish your information out there in space with finding a discussion, a static site is a great vehicle. However, you may be better served by the blog platform, and opening up to talks with those exploring the interenet can only help you improve how you do business.
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