7 Things Business Blogging Does [Plus a Free EBook]

According to HubSpot  research, companies that have taken up business blogging attract 55% more website visitors than non-blogging companies.

HubSpot has partnered with Jeff Ente of Who’s Blogging What to create a a new 24 page ebook that provides business blogging expertise from some of the best bloggers on the web.  The ebook includes advice and commentary from blogging experts including Tamar Weinberg , Mitch Joel , Joe Pulizzi as well as others.  As we prepare for 2011, it is important that business that are actively blogging or are planning to start a blog understand best practices as well as tips and tricks to save time and boost productivity.

Download the the free ebook : Better Business Blogging in 2011

Check out a sample section of the ebook contributed by Mitch Joel :

1. Blogging = Critical Thinking

If everything else went away (the readers, the comments, the community, the feedback), Blogging was (and still is) an amazing place to think about an issue or news item and work through it. I liken myself as a Media Hacker. A Blog is a great place for anyone to be a Hacker of whatever it is that they love. If you don't believe me, then just watch Seth Godin and Tom Peters in this video:  Blogging Still Matters... Now More Than Ever.
 
2. Blogging = Ideation

In using your Blog as a platform for your critical thinking, you will quickly start uncovering new and interesting business models and ideas for how you can push your industry forward or how it can/should be thinking differently. Writing a Blog, reading the comments and feedbacking into them is the ultimate Petri dish for ideation and innovation.

3. Blogging = Tinkering

The ideas and critical thinking are not always one hundred percent final. Blogging allows you to tinker with ideas. To work at them (like a complex mathematical formula). Slowly, over time, you start realizing how wrong you were, how visionary you were and how much further you still have to go.
 
4. Blogging = Relationships

It's not about sitting in the dark recesses of your basement as you tinker away with words and thoughts. It's about using this platform to connect. It's about real interactions with real human beings. Some of my best friends are people that I would not have otherwise met were it not for Six Pixels of Separation (the Blog, not the concept). If you Blog, step out into the physical world. Meet other Bloggers. Share, learn and collaborate with them.
 
5. Blogging = Business

Make no mistake about it. My business blog started out as a means for my agency to tell the world how we think differently about Media, Marketing, Advertising and Communications. Over the years, this has attracted many world-class clients, speaking engagements, a book offer and many other amazing and interesting business opportunities. So, while it is not a place where we shills our wares, it is a place that is directly tied to our overall business objectives/strategy. It consistently delivers a very solid ROI to our bottom line (take that, you Social Media measurement naysayers!).

6. Blogging = Sharing

As each day passes, I like Charlene Li's latest book, Open Leadership, more and more (her first book, Groundswell rocks as well). Many people think that Social Media is all about the conversation and engaging in the conversation. I believe what makes any media "social" is the ability to share it. To help you to open up. Not only can you share the concepts by telling your peers and friend about a Blog, but everybody shares in the insights as well. It has changed/evolved our corporate culture. A Blog makes you think more about how you can share your content, your thoughts and why others may want to work/connect to you.
 
7. Blogging = Exhaust Valve

A great Blog is great because the Blogger actually cares and loves to create content. If it's forced, if it's your "job," then the passion rarely comes through. The biggest lesson I have learned in my seven years of Blogging is that my blog is my exhaust valve. After working a full day with clients and their many challenges, my Blog is my playground. It's the place where I can let off some textual steam. Make your Blog your exhaust valve. Caution: be careful that you're not Blogging simply to blow off angry steam. The steam and exhaust I am talking about is the pent up energy of passion that I have from doing what I love to do.