How Blogging Gives Small Businesses The Competitive Edge

Blogging produced a revolution in the business of online marketing. While blogging is a great Web 2.0 marketing tool for any business, it has become, especially for new, shoestring budget start-ups, a vital means to getting website traffic.

The following are ways blogging has helped level the playing field between well established, corporate giants and small businesses just starting out.

Setting up a Blog is Fast, Free & Easy

There was a time when setting up a business online wasn't free. Many businesses were at the mercy of the technologically savvy the "gurus" who knew design. Then the concept of "free" became synonymous with blogging. Now, it's incomprehensible to think otherwise.

For startup businesses, blogs provide a great alternative to quickly and affordably setting up an online presence. There's no technical knowledge required other than basic internet skills.


With so many blog building tools and software freely available, creating a blog is faster and easier than setting up a web site. There's no need to send yourself, or staff, to expensive training programs or seminars. Once you've decided which software and tools you'd like to use, it will usually take less than ten minutes to beup and running.


Maintaining a Blog is Fast, Free & Easy


Content is good but unique content is the key to your success. Carefully crafting timely and relevant information potential customers can identify with is essential.


If you're passionate about your business, you shouldn't have trouble creating the content your blog needs to keep rolling. On the other hand, the excitement of launching a blog can give way to dread as a small business owner realizes that a blog, by nature, isn't static.


Planning ahead with an editorial outline will greatly reduce the stress of trying to figure out what content to post next. It doesn't take a lot of content to be successful. It just takes consistent effort.


Marketing a Blog is Fast, Free & Easy


If done correctly, publishing your ideas, articles, sales pitches and assorted web page links on your blog can be just as effective as advertising anywhere else online only without the excessive costs. A blog is real time, which means you can communicate with your customers and your customers can communicate with you 24/7.


The upside to blogs is that they're fast, easy, and free. The downside to blogs is thatthey're fast, easy and free. Blogging removes the technological barriers to small businesses. But, it also requires a small business to focus on content.