This video has been all the rage recently having gone viral when this couple’s granddaughter thought her grandparents attempt at figuring out Skype was too funny not to share and so she posted it to YouTube. The response has been phenomenal. This video is just plain hilarious. And it brought to mind an important question. What does your website look like to the general public? Are you keeping their interest? Does your site have a blog? If the answer to the last two questions is “no”, you might as well be the Skype-challenged Grandpa making faces in front of a webcam because your lack of website savvy is going to affect your business.

There are some compelling reasons why your website should include a blog.

1.) As people get increasingly internet savvy, more and more potential customers are making decisions as to where they are going to take their business based on the businesses website. If your website isn’t current and doesn’t have relevant content, you might as well kiss potential customers good-bye.
2.) Blogs provide potential customers with current information about your product or service. If they stopped by your site because of a particular blog topic, they are right where you want them…on your website. And you are the expert that they have been looking for.
3.) Blogs create community. And community creates buzz. You want buzz. By creating a blog that has a user friendly commenting platform (I am particularly fond of Livefyre) you are encouraging conversation and questions. What better opportunity for you to be the “expert” in your field than to be able to answer people’s questions and concerns right on your website!
4.) A consistently published blog keeps your content changing and increases your value in the eyes of search engines. Keeping an updated blog on your website is one of the best things that you can do for your SEO strategy. Your credibility improves with every blog entry for your business website.
5.) Blogs are surprisingly easy to set up and maintain. Creating a simple WordPress blog is a great stepping stone to blogdom and will give you the confidence that you need to continue on your blogging journey.

Once you start blogging for your business, be patient. Traffic to the blog takes time. Read articles about blogging. Read other people’s blogs. Get informed and get known. Not only will you be providing your customers and potential customers with a valuable service by blogging, you will also experience personal growth as you learn about the blogging process.

Does your website have a blog? Do you feel that blogging for your business has been an asset to your company? What suggestions do you have regarding blogging for your business?