Why the blog?

As an Internet Consultant, it's part of my job to understand new Internet technologies... but more importantly, learn how to leverage them for professional business use. There are so many things you can do on the Internet today, it's challenging for small and medium sized businesses to sort through and prioritize what will be most effective for their overall business goals. So, I bring you this blog... and before I take off running... I thought it was important to at least begin by explaining what a blog is and why it's essential.

Start by checking out this gem from CommonCraft – it does a great job of explaining what a blog is for the average human.


Now that you know what a blog is, you still need to answer the question “Why is it important to my business?” Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere should help you answer that.

Don't want to read it? Ok, I'll sum up the things that are most relevant...

The audience is there.

• Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US
• Facebook: 41.0 million | MySpace 75.1 million
• Total internet audience 188.9 million
  

There's money to be made.

• The majority of bloggers we [Technorati] surveyed currently have advertising on their blogs. Among those with advertising, the mean annual investment in their blog is $1,800, but it’s paying off. The mean annual revenue is $6,000 with $75K+ in revenue for those with 100,000 or more unique visitors per month.

Effectively managing your online brand is KEY in the era of Social Media.

• Whether or not a brand has launched a social media strategy, more likely than not, it’s already present in the Blogosphere. Four in five bloggers post brand or product reviews, with 37% posting them frequently. 90% of bloggers say they post about the brands, music, movies and books that they love (or hate).