Data shows that web sites with blogs generate 55% more web traffic than sites without. When you blog regularly you generate more content and more links, which ultimately enables you to build your reputation and increase brand recognition as well as produce better search results and ultimately more traffic to your site.

Blogging and Social Sharing
Each time you create a blog post, you create another opportunity to share your content with social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Linked in (add ones you like). Each share means links back to your site. This growth in inbound links is something that search engines interpret as credibility and ultimately helps with your search ranking.

Building reputation and brand
Chances are you are an expert in what you do and that is why you do what you do - so why not talk about what you already know an love? It is the engaging content - the story about the small farm where you source the meat for your restaurant, or the expert advice you share about how to get a new job, or even the story that inspired you to start your business - that people will read and share. It is these stories and how they are shared that over time help you build up your unique brand and your reputation.

Building your client base
Blogging enables us to explain how our business or product works in more detail or how it relates to a specific client need - in some cases enabling business owners to expand how even they thought their product could be used. Like the natural soap maker whose customer discovered the product cleared up her eczema.

Starting the conversation
Blogs at their best generate discussion. And as the business owner and the blogger you can control the direction of the conversation by stating the conversation and using a blog entry to clarify misinformation. If you blog please enable comments and be sure to respond to those who take the time to reach out to you in the form of a comment.

Blogging with YWD
Your Web Department's $49/a month package includes a blog tool that is fully loaded with all the social sharing tools and can easily be integrated into your YWD website if for example you want to feature your latest post on the home page of your site. Learn more about YWD Blog

Join is over the next week as we share tips and tricks for how to launch and maintain a blog that can help you grow your business.

Interested on YWD? Take it for a spin, free!