Blogging 101 – Why Blog?

 Blogging 101 – Why Blog?

By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting (Pty) Ltd 

It was a request from a friend who lives far away – the ‘how to’ of blogging that is!

I must say, both the question and the request took me somewhat by surprise.

You see, although I am a technophobe who literally has no clue on how to actually set up a blog (mine was set up by a friend – a mentee actually), the value and content of a blog were not in question from the day that I heard about blogging.  It is an extremely simple concept and quite honestly I am confused by how complicated some people have made it out to be.

Simply put, it is an electronic journal that you can share with the world or not.  It can be locked up and accessible to specific groups of people (like a family who has been scattered to the four corners of the world) or even used as a means to share information with say senior managers in an international company, or you can leave it as an open forum and share the information with anyone.

Quite honestly, it is, in my opinion, one of the easiest and most cost- effective ways to not only market yourself but also provide “Joe Public” with information that they may need but not know where to go in order to obtain it or avail themselves of it.

In my opinion, there is no a single solitary business on the face of the planet that would not benefit from having a blog, and those that use the opportunity (note to self – get the ads up and running) properly and effectively, would also actually have an opportunity to make a lot of money whilst also actually making a profound difference in the lives of others

Each one of us, who runs a business, has something to ‘give’.  The more we tell people about what we do, the more they understand and the more they understand the more they become interested, the quicker we will ‘pop into’ their minds when they need our particular product or service.

Think about it for a moment – you may know of say 5 different bookkeepers.  They are all equally as good as each other, they all have excellent references.  One of the bookkeepers starts writing a blog that actually explains the different terms that bookkeepers and accountants use in a way that you understand and suddenly you start understanding the terminology.  Your bookkeeper decides to immigrate and suddenly you need to engage the services of a ‘new’ bookkeeper.  Which one would you choose?  I know that for me, it would be the one who has been blogging because even though I haven’t physically engaged with them I have on some level engaged when I read the blogs.  There is now a connection with one bookkeeper that I do not have with the others.  

We are all experts in what we do or sell and sharing some of our knowledge and expertise as ‘tips’ will do more for our business than any expensive marketing campaign.  I actually find that doing the research for some of the articles that I write means that my knowledge is expanded too and that is always a bonus.

So – sharpen your pencils and start jotting down ideas on some of the things that you may want to write about or have an opinion on or even if you just want to write for fun – let’s explore the opportunity and see what we can come up with.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za