Hangout on Air: Blogging for Your Business

I'm sorry to be delinquent in posting this Hangout on Air (especially as we did one today which we'll be posting shortly). This was our first Hangout on Air and discussed the topic of blogging for your business, using Blogger as the platform for a social media strategy based on establishing your expertise, bringing fresh content to your audience(s), and even providing incredible search engine rankings as a result.

The summary of the HoA was written by Lisa Ding, Community Manager for Blogger:

We hope that if you were on the fence about starting a blog for your business, you feel now ready to dive in! As a wrap-up here are a few points we discussed during the Hangout, but please feel free to comment with any other questions you might have: 

1) Decide on goals. Do you want to promote your products and services? Drive traffic to your website or store? Brand yourself as an expert in your field? Make sure your blog helps you reach your business goals before jumping in. 

2) But I already have a website? Why not have both! You can make your blog posts the dynamic part of your website, and still keep the static pages for "About Me", "Hours and Location", "Products" and more. Blogger even allows you to create those static pages easily: http://goo.gl/oDTuZ 

3) Establish yourself as an expert. Have a bakery? Post pics of your latest creations or share your favorite recipes. Own a boutique? Write about the latest trends you're seeing and stocking for. When your content is followed and shared, you'll be able to drive traffic to both your website and store. 

4) Use social media to draw traffic. Using things like Google+ and Twitter can help get the word out about your content. If you're a brick-and-mortar store, building that social media presence can help you tap in to new audiences and potentially bring in new customers. 

5) Have fun. Blogging doesn't need to be a chore. Write short and sweet posts, with lots of visuals, and don't feel like you need to post every day - try once or twice a week to get started.

You can also read more on the official Google and Your Business blog.