If you are looking for the best way to deliver a strong sales message to a particular group of companies, blogging should not be your first choice. For something like that, use the phone or a direct mail piece.

However, blogging does offer its own, unique set of strengths.

Here are just a few good reasons why every freelancer should have his or her own weblog….

>> 1. A blog is a great place to showcase your area of expertise.

If your freelance niche is the writing of white papers for big companies, for instance, us your blog to show that you are an opinion leader. Use each blog entry to show that people come to YOU for opinions on this subject.

When a potential customer finds your blog, they won’t find a strong sales message, but they will find a good reason to visit your main sales site and consider you for their next project.

>> 2. A good blog generates incredible word-of-mouth.

It’s the nature of the medium. If you send out a promotional postcard, one person sees it and then it hits the trash can.

When you build a reputation for being a leader in your area with your blog entries, then hundreds or even thousands of people will link to your blog, refer to it in their own communications and talk about it with their friends and colleagues.

>> 3. Blogging brings you to the attention of the major search engines.

It is said that Google and the other major search engines love weblogs. That’s almost true. What they love are sites that are frequently added to and updated. And that’s why they love blogs, because they are being added to weekly or even daily.

>> 4. Blogs drive traffic to your sales site.

If you have a web site that promotes your services, then you’ll want to have prospective customers hear about the site, visit it and then contact you.

Blogs are a great way to get more traffic to your site.

This happens in two ways.

First, if your site is rich in articles and other useful resources, you can link to these pages from your blog, as and when relevant. People who respect you because of your blog will then click through to your site and read the articles.

Second, Google and other search engines will find the links in your blog quite quickly and then they will follow the link to your sales site. Google likes quality, relevant links and will reward your site with higher listings for certain pages.

>> Concluding thought…Blogs are not a quick fix.

As I mentioned before, if you need a quick, targeted promotional hit, choose another medium.

But if you want a presence online where you can showcase your expertise, build a reputation, reach thousands of potential customers, build traffic to your sales site and improve your search engine listings, weblogs are a wonderful tool.

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