Bloggers and (Personal) Brand-Building

 "Nearly six in 10 of all the bloggers surveyed said they were better known in their industry because of their blog..."

Blogging is showing a very high success rate in improving the visibility of a business, for those who use it as a tool for that purpose! Performance is particularly high for part-timers and self employed. These groups report that over two thirds of the respondents have sold products or services as a result of their blogging, and definitely improved their visibility on the Internet. It seems to me that most of the small business users that I deal with in my practice would share important characteristics with those two categories that would indicate that they could expect the same level of positive performance.

I advocate blogging as a promotional tool for all my clients since everyone in business has some kind of story to tell that is potentially interesting and valuable to their prospects. The key to success with this tool is, first and foremost, to begin using it on a regular basis. A blog without content is not going to do anything for your business, so one has to start by creating content. There must be some commitment by the blogger to regular posting to the blog. With that commitment made, the next step is develop a "voice" on the blog that conveys a sense of personal communication with the prospects or clients.

Everyone who is successful in business has a voice that their clients know. The key here is to learn the technique of carrying that voice over to a new medium, the blog. The only way I know of to do that is to begin regular blogging and let the voice develop! Like most any tool, blogging does nothing for you if you don't utilize it!