I was just reading an article about blogging and how much it can increase traffic and sales if it is done correctly. I'm not a blogger currently, but I think it is an untapped market.

Do you blog? What sorts of posts do you make? I was thinking it'd be better than a newsletter, and I could post about improvement and tips and tricks.

Your blog articles can help bring in some search engine traffic that you can then carefully guide towards your hosting site. With a bit of luck you can get links to your articles from other sites.

Compared to a newsletter, I think it's easier to get results.

I've noticed that search engines seem to key in on blogs these days, so I'm sure it would be a good method to bring in traffic. Many times, though, I do a search and go to a blog I find that the content isn't organized. If I encounter that I'm going back to the search engine.

I don't think its just a good way to bring extra traffic. I think it is an extraordinary way to bring traffic!

Social marketing has become such a popular technique to bring traffic and spread the word, that fewer companies can afford not to do anything about it! A media such as blog is not only bringing you closer to your clients, it creates a platform for direct communication. Search engines, as was pointed out earlier, love the blogs, and, compared to other marketing methods, are also easier to use on social bookmarking sites (assuming interesting content is posted).

I would have advised any hosting company yo run it, in spite of how big/small they are. Its just an amazing way to stay connected.

Thank you, I think I will look into it. Do you have any ideas about blog software? I've heard that wordpress is easy to use and customizable.

I know what the pp means about keeping it organized and easy to read. I've seen some that categorize post, and have the categories in the column next to posts to keep it easy to click on what you are interested in.

They already said the advantages of blogging, which I absolutely agree. I would like to add that if your blogs are a great source of information, it will not only lead more traffic to your site but it will have its own traffic. Sometimes, blog themselves have more visits than the website it refers to because of the information that is taken from the blog.

I've used wordpress in the past and found it very easy to navigate in the backend once I got the basics set up (the dashboard they call the admin side if I remember right. ) There are literally thousands of templates out there for wordpress available free (or you can buy custom themes) in almost every style and colorway you can imagine. They've come a long way in the last few years.

One of the main attributes I looked for in themes were ones that were widget-ready. They seemed to have a lot more scope than ones that weren't for plug-ins, etc., if you like a lot of bells and whistles on your blog.

Of course wordpress is free too which is another plus and you can find out about both themes and plugins at their site.

The categories are set up in the manner you describe too in most if not all wordpress themes I've used.

Someone else may be able to recommend other kinds of blogs but in all honesty, I never looked any further after that because I liked wordpress very much.

Thank you Hannah... looks like I have a lot to learn. I have no idea what widgets are! I'm going to try to find one that I can customize to somewhat match my business site theme-wise, as I think that looks most professional. If anyone one knows of any tutorials, please let me know!

Well i pay some other persons to do that for my site....

That is so true :-) I am talking to my colleagues since months that we also have to setup a blog.

Don't just talk. Implement! You could have already learned something from your clients that you wouldn't have learned otherwise.

Blogs are definitely an excellent way to gain attention on the internet. They have became increasingly popular since they started being put into use. I am actually going to start a blog as well as a webmaster resources site to gain some attention. I know it will work as I have web developers that do this and have excellent response when they do it. Also, when I launch my hosting company, we will have a company blog.

I'm thinking about starting a blog myself. I've heard its a really great way to increase traffic. Would any of you care to share your blogs?

I prefer newsletters instead of blogging, but it would be nice if company's could share their blogs.

how much do you pay for this?