As I network a lot, I often meet business people who don't have blogs. They're not focused on digital marketing, they're not focused on social media technologies and they certainly are not focused on blogging.

When the subject of blogging comes up, they invariably ask "Why should I have a blog?" And they don't mean it in a challenging way (well, often they don't), they genuinely don't understand the business benefits or reasons for having a blog.

And, quite honestly, often, I fail to articulate them as well as I perhaps should. In fairness to myself, that's often because I'm focused on networking at the time and not on providing a lecture extolling the benefits of blogging.

So I thought, what better way to get these thoughts together than to put them in a blog. That way, I can point people to this post whenever they ask and I might actually do a better job of remembering some of these facts and answers the next time I am asked and soon I will be the life and soul of every networking shindig I attend.

OK, so that last part may not happen, but the benefits of doing this still stand. So, here goes:

Firstly, research suggests that more and more people are reading blogs, more and more people expect the businesses they deal with to have some kind of social media presence and more and more people are using blogs to help make their buying decisions.

Those are the most compelling reasons in a nutshell.

According to a survey carried out by Cone in 2008, 59% of Americans now use social media to interact with companies on social media websites. Furthermore, one in four of those interact more than once a week.

"According to the survey, 93 percent of social media users believe a company should have a presence in social media, while an overwhelming 85 percent believe a company should not only be present but also interact with its consumers via social media. In fact, 56 percent of users feel both a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment".

And according to BuzzLogic, 50% of blog readers say that they find blogs "useful for purchase information" and, in case, you're thinking "Yeah - for geeks perhaps", think again! BuzzLogic do say that 31% of readers said blogs were useful for technology-related purchases. But 15% said the same thing for media and entertainment-related purchases, 14% for games/toys and sporting goods, 12% for travel, 11% for automotive and 10% for health. Read the full article at BuzzLogic - if you're in business, you should!

Blogs are for smaller businesses too

And it's not true that this is only for established businesses or businesses at the medium end of 'small-to-medium'. Even start-up businesses can use blogs to educate potential partners, employees, customers or investors in their idea or venture. New launched businesses can quickly get feedback about ideas or new products.

Search engine marketing

The effect on search engine listings is probably one of the biggest benefits of having a business blog. Search engines like fresh content, content that's regularly updated and blogs naturally fit right into that category.

 Positioning

If you really know your subject, a blog is also a great way to position your business as an authority within your chosen profession.

So, should you bother to have a business blog? I would say yes in just about every case, but here's the thing: having a blog and doing nothing with it is worse than not having one at all. I know. Our blog for the last two years or so has really been a case of cobbler's shoes and only now are we gearing up and "sorting it out". (So keep checking back to see great things happening).

To get back to the point though, the benefits of blogging are clear - but only if you are ready, willing and able to put in the time and effort to regularly contribute to it.

Happy blogging and, if you see me at a networking event, you can now ask me about something different!