You, Build a Blog? You Betcha!

1. Are you afraid that building a blog is beyond you if you lack technical expertise? You can lay that worry to rest, because it's actually much easier to set up a blog than a regular web site. The typical blog platform is highly intuitive, which is just a shmancy way of saying that almost any idiot can figure it out, and of course you aren't. If you can point and click, you can do this. And if you are truly stuck, customer service is always close at hand.

2. If you're wondering whether to go with a free or paid blog, I would definitely suggest the latter if you can afford it. If you choose Wordpress.org as your blogging platform, which I recommend because of the wide range of flexibility and options it offers, you'll only need to purchase a domain name and hosting.

If you're leery about what it will cost, let me assure you that, unless you really don't have two nickels to rub together, this will not break the bank. For example, you can purchase a .com domain for just under $10 at GoDaddy.com. As for hosting, HostGator.com offers packages priced at less than $10 a month.

3. Still balking at the idea of paying anything? Okay, consider this: a domain name makes all the difference in the way potential customers perceive your professionalism, or lack thereof. Think about it: don't you feel just a bit suspicious of those sites with long, unwieldy, alphabet-soup web addresses? Aren't you far more likely to trust a site that sports a neat, concise .com? I thought so.

As for free versus paid hosting: with the former you wouldn't have the benefit of technical support, and with the latter you would. When something goes wonky, and it will, you will definitely appreciate the assistance of those with expertise in these matters, especially if you're not a technie -- or even if you are.

4. Then there are the search engines. Every time you post new content, Google, Yahoo, et. al. pick it right up and index it very quickly. The more content you create and submit, the higher the search engines will rank your site. And the higher your site ranks, the more visitors -- and prospective customers -- will find their way to it. So make sure that you keep your blog up to date by whipping up fresh content regularly, at least 2-3 times a week.

5. Finally, though it doesn't seem to be said that often, blogs are actually a form of Web 2.0, i.e. social media. Though one tends to think of social media in terms of sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter et. al., whose habitués habitually communicate with each other, you and your readers can do likewise on your blog, through the comments section.

You could hardly ask for a better feedback forum: your visitors can share their thoughts, suggestions and questions, let you know what they like (or don't -- hope you won't get too much of that!). This allows you not only to establish an ongoing conversation with your readers. You are also building relationships with them, which is absolutely critical to gaining their trust -- the most important aspect to building any business. And when they trust you, they are much more likely to buy from you.