With an increasing number of people reading, writing, and commenting on blogs, the way we use the web is shifting in a fundamental way. Instead of being passive consumers of information, more and more Internet users are becoming active participants.
A weblog, or blog, is a personal journal on the web. Weblogs express as many different subjects and opinions as there are people writing them. Some blogs are highly influential and have enormous readership while others are primarily intended for a close circle of family and friends.
The blogging phenomenon
A few years ago, web search was revolutionised by a simple but profound idea — that the relevance of a site can be determined by the number of other sites that link to it, and thus consider it ‘important.’ In the world of blogs, hyperlinks are even more significant, since bloggers frequently link to and comment on other blogs, which creates the sense of timeliness and connectedness one would have in a conversation.
The power of weblogs is that they allow millions of people to easily publish their ideas, and millions more to comment on them. Blogs are a fluid, dynamic medium, more akin to a ‘conversation’ than to a library — which is how the Web has often been described in the past.
The benefits of blogging
Your favourite thing about having a blog may be that they naturally attract search engine traffic. Blogs already have optimised site architecture. Most are set up with a clear navigation, where every page is set up to link back to the other main pages. They also have the inherent potential to be well-linked.
Increasingly, savvy companies are turning to blogs to complement their communications arsenal of press releases, sustainability reports and investor conference calls. What’s more, some start-up companies are forgoing press releases altogether in favour of blogs.
For a business, blogs also:
- Build your profile as blogging demonstrates expertise
- Allow you to share information with customers
- Inform people about other things your business is doing
- Generate powerful referral networks
- Create an opportunity to network and share information with people from around the world
- Permit the kind of conversations that are necessary to truly connect with modern customers
- Create an opportunity to build relationships with your customers
- Search engines are attuned to finding blogs
How to blog
Starting a blog is easy. Several companies, such wordpress.com offer free blogging tools.
You don’t need to be a technical whiz, they take care of everything. It does take a little time to do the initial set up but once you have done that all you need is the story ideas and away you go.
What you write is up to you, but try to spark discussion and share experiences, ideas and relevant information. To build traffic, read other blogs and comment so that it links back to your own blog.
Sydney Public Relations Agency, CP Communications provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that get amazing results. Contact us today. For more great tips visit our website www.cpcommunications.com.au.