I'm continuing a meme that I found on two other blog sites that lists six reasons why small businesses should blog. The first was a post on the Kelsey Group site. They picked it up from Church of the Customer.

So, nothing original from me. Just a regurgitation of the six reasons they list. (But they are very, very good reasons!) Here they are. . .

1. They fan the flames of customer evangelism. They help humanize you and your organization.
2. They can function as an instant-feedback machine about your company and its products and services (because of the comments and trackback functions).
3. They compel you to Napsterize more of your knowledge, which attracts prospects thanks to the search engines which index your ongoing knowledge automatically. Attraction is easier than hunting.
4. The facilitate the spread of buzz if you're honest, authentic and write your blog yourself.
5. They allow you to have more conversations with customers and prospects than you could ever do in person.
6. They help position you as a knowledgeable expert in your industry.

I am considering doing a post on this subject featuring comments from small businesses owners who blog. If you qualify, feel free to list your reasons in the comments section. I'll probably be contacting you for a more in-depth interview when I do the post.

Need more traffic to your blog? Who doesn't. Even Nick Denton could use more. Here's a quote from John Hawkins, editor of the Right Wing News blog, that he calls the "The 'Very, Very' Rule Of Building Traffic For Your Blog". . .

"Remember that you will have to be very, very, good, for a very, very, long time, while working very, very, hard to promote your work and you will be very, very, underappreciated the whole time."

Uh, if you were hoping for a Top 10 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Blog, I didn't mean to disappoint. (Buy Chris Pirillo's Blog Traffic School ebook for that!) But John has been doing this very, very well for a very, very long time, and he has the success to prove it, to the tune of over 6,000 readers per day.

Rising pay-per-click prices on the top-tier services Google and Overture has marketers scrambling to find lower cost alternatives, so says a recent article from Direct Marketing News. Two promising players are FindWhat.com and LookSmart, which report "delivering millions of leads to advertisers."

FindWhat said it delivered 219 million paid clicks in the second quarter while LookSmart generated 105 million, excluding paid inclusion listings on MSN.

According to one count, over 500 of second-tier (and third- and fourth-tier, no doubt) PPC networks are in operation, so there's no shortage of alternatives available.

Ask Jeeves is the latest search engine to join the "local search" frenzy. They will be relying on InterActiveCorp's Citysearch for content beginning in September. About 10% of Ask's searches are for local information.

Yahoo! has finally rolled out a test version of its much-anticipated local search service. Yahoo Local offers Yellow Pages data, descriptions of businesses, addresses, maps and recommendations. The engine combines Yahoo! Yellow Pages, Yahoo! Maps and Yahoo! Search, and is an attempt to grab a slice of the $14 billion local advertising pie now being gobbled up by printed phone directories.

Of course, search engine leader Google has been been beta-testing local search for several months now.

What does this all mean for local businesses? That is the subject of another post I'm working on now.

Reuters is reporting that blogs are fast gaining corporate recognition and soon may be acknowledged simply as important.

In a sign blogs are moving mainstream, major technology companies, including Microsoft and IBM came together at a recent conference to discuss the profit potential of the Web publishing format.

InternetNews.com reports that blogs are attracting interest and investment from major IT companies, including Microsoft, Nokia and Apple. Microsoft launched a blogging community site called Channel 9 in April, while Nokia plans to launch a site called LifeBlog in the fall on which phone users will be able to post content through their mobile. Apple's next-generation operating system will include an RSS aggregator.

Can I now safely proclaim 2004 as the Year of the Blog? I think so. Remember, you heard it here first. (Well, maybe not first. But you heard it here nonetheless!)

Common Craft's Lee Lefever has written an excellent case study on why weblogs are critical marketing tools to achieve #1 rankings in Google.

Lee has certainly "crafted" his own site to achieve high rankings, even using his categories as keyword optimized phrases. Very smart marketing!

Ezine-Tips' Chris Knight asked the question should email publishers also blog? I, for one, think so. The two go together like PB&J!

Chris sums it up this way. . .

"If you want to extend your reach, you must blog. If you don't want to jump in 100% into the "blogosphere" -- why not at least start by adding an RSS feed to your email newsletter. Your Ezine-Tip for the day is to start becoming aware of the viral promotion that participating in blogs can bring to your ezine or email announcement newsletter."

Business consultant Rich Ottum has put together a list of 10 Ways to market your small business using business blogs. Here are the first five in a nutshell, but read his article for the full effect. . .

1. Make it New
2. Give it Voice
3. Say it Often
4. Ask for Feedback
-and-
5. Share the Wealth

I first saw this article posted on Rick Bruner's Business Blog Consulting site.

A good portion of my work as an Internet marketing manager involves using an outbound email program called ListManager, produced by a Lyris Technologies. Lyris is a major provider of opt-in email software with over 4000 clients on its roster.

I was speaking with Abigail, our account rep, recently. While trying to wrangle some fresh San Francisco sourdough bread out of her (They're in the Bay area; I need it to go with the lobster. Ha!) we discussed business blogging and the ins-and-outs of why Lyris ought to add a blog as part of their overall marketing communications mix.

Here's the list of reasons I recounted to Abigail. . .

1. There is a ton of content on their website to pull from.
2. It would provide fodder for and serve as an idea seedbed for their monthly e-newsletter.
3. It would be a way for the marketing and engineering departments to work together, as bloggers from both teams could post things like: tips for using ListManager, the top 10 support questions, notices about bug fixes or upgrades, trends in email marketing, and why SPF has nothing to do with sunscreen.
4. It would give them greater visibility on search engines, particularly Google. (Search engines LOVE blogs!)
5. It's another channel through which they can spread their message, promote the company, and build their brand.
6. It's value added service for their present clients.
7. It's a great way to showcase customers, and strengthen the vendor-client relationship.
8. They're a technology company for Pete's sake! Why wouldn't they use it?!
9. Other companies in their niche are not doing it. They get to the plate first, and gain greater mindshare.

And last but not least. . .

10. Blogging is cool, so why not do it!

As a matter of fact, most of these self-same reasons apply to any business considering using blog technology.

So, Lyris, if you're listening. . .

Marketers with listings ranked at the top of search results pages receive much more traffic to their sites than those just a spot below, according to a new study.

The research found that Internet traffic decreases as keyword rankings drop. Overall, a top ranking generates 10 times the traffic as a spot at No. 10, according to the study. Traffic was found to drop 10 percent for each drop in rank.

Like my father is fond of saying, "Second place is just the first one to lose!"