Shock and horrors can I, creator of Blogging Starter Pack which has helped launched countless small business blogs for 4 years seriously be asking that question?

Yes I am! But hear me out.

When Blogging Starter Pack was created, blogging was pretty new to small business. There were lots of blogs but how businesses could harness that was a big question mark. Of course, we helped business owners with that the course and it worked. Blogging worked out so well it’s almost expected for a business to have a blog for people to keep up with the company news, features, offers, tips and more.

At the same time, the number of consumers’ blogs have also increased exponentially and many of them have grown up into authority sites in their own right. These days, whenever people ask me if they should start a blog and are concerned that they cannot keep up with blogging, my response is, why not guest blog first?

• Guest blogging for a well read blog in your niche means you can reach their audience, introduce your company/expertise and connect with them. Like free advertising, only better.
• You don’t have a big commitment up front. Too many blogs personal and business are created with the best intentions but little follow through. In the beginning, you’ll find lots of stuff to write about but maintaining that pace can be wearisome at times. There are ways you can overcome that but many small businesses quickly find themselves frustrated with the process in the long term. By guest blogging, you don’t necessarily have that commitment. Bloggers take guests who are willing to contribute one off and other times they are also open for regular contributors. If you offer yourself as a regular contributor, this is a great training ground for when you build your own blog.
• Offer your products to bloggers to review or give away. It’s amazing how many bloggers are asking (sometimes begging) for products to try, review or give away to their readers. Take advantage of that. Just be willing to accept honest reviews that may or may not be flattering. Don’t know how to find these bloggers? Join us as a premium member at BlogEnergizer we’ll get them to come to you and then some.
• Don’t forget podcasts. Just like bloggers, podcasters need to come up with fresh content regularly too. Get in touch with them and get in front of your audience usually, for free.

Given all this, is it still a good idea to have your own blog. Yes. This way, you can invite the readers back to your own blog so they can find more content they are interested in and build your own following on your own turf where you can promote freely. Plus, fresh content keeps those robots coming back.

Photo by channah