The race is definitely on. Everyone wants a blog, or some kind of personal virtual real estate address to call their own.
A personal blog is a good way to get that piece of the world wide web, but there is also a debate about wether this is good or bad for business, and how much information you should put on it.
As a business person, your first question may be simply this; “Will a personal blog help my business or hurt it?”.
After watching the latest trends, and looking objectively at the issue, I have concluded that a personal blog is a great tool which can enhance or improve any business you have online and help your long-distance relationships.
Here are the few reasons why you should start a personal blog
If you have several websites that make you money, a personal blog is the one place where you can speak your mind, without having to conform to a theme or the vagaries of your potential customers.
In this way you can test anything you want, without giving up revenue for the sake of testing. If your views are political in nature, for example, you can keep these comments personal, without sacrificing your principles for money.
Some customers may not like your views, but on other portals where they spend money with you, they may have no idea that you are the same person selling them computers or software.
But your opinions are not the only things you can test on a personal blog. You can test software, scripts, themes, and even different business models.
If something is not a good fit for your customers, you will know it before you spend big money rolling out a product nobody wants.
A personal blog a also a good place to experiment with different niches. You can tell your visitors that you have gained some weight, and you are working with a new piece of gym equipment, or a new weight loss programme.
Later on, if your results are good, you can actually promote the products on a separate website. You will already have people following your progress, and may want to get similar results.
We human beings tend to be eclectic creatures, so a personal blog will give you more leverage in expressing yourself about many subjects, without fear or favour.
You can also use your blog to start a general list of subscribers who love to read your content.
Many of these people will be interested in some of the topics you will discuss and will actually visit your other websites to see what you have to offer there.
If you are rock climber, you may lose some people when you go on and on about rock climbing, but on your safer, ‘saner’ subjects, you will get some followers and even admirers.
What seems like a big deal these days as well, is the fact that many persons use their personal blogs to experiment with different methods of delivering content to their users.
Think about it for a minute. Your mobile phone probably has a great video recorder, right?
Why not do a short video for your readers. They will get to see your physical beauty as well as enjoy your superior writing skills.
Do you write poems?
You can do a poem on video. Nobody else may ever capture the nuances of that piece like you can. Having your personal space online can bring out the best of your creativity and delivery, in videos, pod casts, and audio.
There are two potential dangers that you should look out for when you create a personal blog.
If you are online to make money from home with your websites, a personal blog could become a drain on your time, and divert your efforts from your revenue-generating activities. Be careful about that one.
You may also find that you have a tendency to give out too much information about yourself and your family on your personal blogs.
If you ardently following the pace set up by Facebook and others of that ilk, you probably have too much information out there already. Remember that it is impossible to get them all back, so be careful about that too.
I recall very well, an article I read recently about people with GPS-connected phones sending twitter tweets during their travels, which led to a series of house-break ins because the robbers had the address of the blogger and could verify with pinpoint accuracy, that they were too far from home to prevent these break-ins.
Blogging can be fun and lucrative, but remember that your safety comes first.
Think blogging is definitely for you?
Check out: Digital Scholar for more expert advice, tips and tricks for making the best of your blogging efforts.