The statistics I will use in this article will indicate that most small business marketing plans should include a blog.

I suggest you get an idea of what a blog might mean for your business and then consider if it is something that you would want to do yourself or outsource to a professional.

Blogger says that 81% of U.S. online consumers trust information and advice from blogs.

Another respected source, Hubspot says that companies that do blog have 97% more inbound links to their site.

InsideView reports that Business to Business marketers  who use blogs have 67% more leads than those businesses who do not.

Based on recommendations from a blog, BlogHer reports that 61% of U.S. online consumers have made a purchase.

ThinkCreative  says that small businesses that blog get 126% more lead growth than small businesses that do not blog.

A high percentage of customers learn about a company through their blog rather than through advertising.

Content is king!

Providing valuable content to the viewer is a very important ingredient to a successful marketing plan.  Good content provides the consumer the opportunity to really study your proposal or product and will probably save valuable sales time in your business.  Remember, the more pages a visitor reads on your blog, the closer they are to making a buying decision with your company.

Blogging builds trust!

By providing valuable helpful content that explains your product or service to the prospective consumer, you are answering many of their questions ahead of time.  Done in the proper way will create trust and  generate leads who will call you direct or drop in the next time they are close.

Provides opportunity for quick promotions!

You can throw up a product or menu promotion in really minutes with the assistance of a smart phone camera and a little copywriting.  If you use the blog to gather email addresses of customers and leads, promotions can be emailed with relative ease.

A comment section on a blog can build customer rapport!

Comments provide a great opportunity to learn from readers and allow them to let you know what is on their mind.

Encouraging your customers to engage in an active discussion on your company blog and then listening intently to what they are saying will almost always get questions from individuals wanting to find out more.  Sometimes these questions can provide the opportunity for another blog post.

If you would like to explore the idea of how a blog might work for your business with minimal involvement on your part, my contact information is below.

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