25 Things A Blog Can and WILL Do For You

I could have written, 30 things a blog can and will do for you. Or, 50 things. Or 10 things.

The number isn’t important. The “things” are important. The things and what they can and will do for you, if you work at them.

Let’s discuss.

First, for the uninitiated, let’s define blog.

A blog is a regularly updated web page or website. A good many folks talk “blogsite” now, instead of website or blog. This is because many of the websites we visit are built on blogging platforms.

The origin comes from “web log”… and dates far back into a galaxy far far away. But, really, just on the internet. Techies were using web logs long before business folks, like us, hopped on the band wagon.

Blogging and Blogs and Bloggers, Oh My!

I once wrote a post (that’s what this is – content in my blog: a blog post) titled, “I blog, therefore, I am.”

At that time, I assumed bloggers were also thinking carefully about what they wrote. I am not so sure anymore. There’s an element of confession seen on blogs that should come with a warning! You know what I mean.

However, a blog is a useful tool if you use it that way. And it needn’t be intimidating. You can be the owner and consistent writer, but you can also have guest writers. Swapping blog content with another person in your industry is a great way to build your mailing list. And that’s advice for another day.

Here are 25 things a blog can do for you…

Increase brand awareness. This comes from using your brand colors, logo, and fonts in each blog post and image.
Drive traffic to your website. Often, your ‘blog’ is part of your website these days. In those olden days, we had separate blogs and websites. I prefer blogsites today.
Improve your SEO. Blogs are search engine-friendly if you add content that is useful, relevant, and shareable. In today’s world, however, you also have to have formatting that appeals to AI. That’s another story we can talk about sometime. Just be aware that people are now asking Claude or ChatGPT or Perplexity to find them what they need. Your blog (and website) needs to be optimized for those bots to return you in a search.
Create a new focus on an old idea. That’s where you bring your originality to play.
Connect to other social platforms and drive traffic to them.
Broadcast your message to your audience a little at a time. Blogs offer a way to share the whole message, or to share it in smaller chunks. This post could have been broken up into 5 sections, but I chose to do it this way.
Establish you as a thought leader. A topic I know everyone is interested in. Just as your book creates thought leadership, so does your blog. Click the link in this sentence to read more about thought leadership.
Supplement your PR efforts. Never do one or the other, always look at ways to combine your efforts.
Showcase work and expertise. You can offer white papers and ebooks within your blog.
Build community. Bring people together. Engage in conversation. Remember, your blog is your home base. When you invite people in to comment or engage, you’re inviting them into your living room. You make the rules on how the conduct should be.
Start new conversations. Sometimes, the folks who comment will offer insight or ask questions that you need to answer.
Build research and development, without spending a boatload of cash. This is where you ask questions or add a survey to your post.
Bring new voices to your audience. We do this in our videos with Smart Conversations.
Describe your work or focus more completely. Or more cleverly?
Offer a schedule you can live with, to share your thoughts, products, musings. You can write your blog at any time of day or night.
Give you a place to highlight a new product or service. Don’t forget – it’s about your audience. It’s not about the product or service – or even your book. Make those offers about the solution to a problem, not about you and what you plan to do.
Create a network for referrals. Blogs are easy ways for folks to share what they find compelling or useful. Invite everyone to share your blog posts.
Inspire creativity. The engagement with your audience will definitely get you thinking and creating.
Build relationships. People like to engage online. If you start a relationship via your blog, it will soon flow into IRL meetings and give you a warm, hearty welcome. Not to mention, give you ideas for the podcast I know you want to start – and guests to be on it!
Communicate your values. Yes, every word you write demonstrates your values and helps people understand how you can to connect.
Be the first step towards writing that book I keep telling you to write. Yes, blog posts can become pages in your book, or whole chapters.
Force you to use new technology. For instance, vlogs (video blogs) were not as popular when I first started blogging. Over time, video became the way to go and now you see me doing more and more video.
A blog can just be a journal. You can have a separate blog of your own, that never sees the light of day. If you prefer typing to writing by hand, make your first blog private, and post in it daily. As you become used to blog writing, you will be inspired to have a live blog, for all the world to see.
Attract other thought leaders to connect with you. I love this because when you connect with other thought leaders, you have the beginnings of a team. Teamwork is always a valued way to operate.
Teach you better writing skills. I saved this for last because it’s an important observation. People who write on a regular basis, become better writers, over time. Plus, if you are approachable, and not easily angered (which is how you should be), you may invite corrections to grammar and punctuation. I do. Anyone who finds fault with my grammar or punctuation is welcome to comment and tell me. Just do it politely. Please.

And there you have it.