I'm jazzed - Reuters just broke a story by Eric Auchard entitled "LiveWire: Blog publishers stealing Web limelight" and he mentioned my Blogs4Business blog...and what great timing! Talk about the power of the press -- I received 37 visitors within 13 minutes of the article's dateline.

I had just launched my Blog AnswerMan site along with my vanity toll-free number 1.866.44B-BLOG.

Do you have questions about business blogging?

Check out BlogAnswerMan.com. This is my response to the rash of interest (and questions) that has been generated by the Google purchase of Blogger.

Business interest in blogging is increasing every day and my phone has been ringing off the hook -- so I am launching the Blog AnswerMan service as a part free and part fee-based information resource.

Please check it out and SUBMIT YOUR B-BLOG QUESTIONS HERE or call 1.866.44B-BLOG.

John Lawlor - blogging from Boca Raton, FL 2003-02-26

Should businesses pay attention to blogging?

Google loves information that is fresh and updated frequently. Blogs exist on a diet of fresh content updated frequently. The more Google finds freshly updated content, the more often their little robots visit the blog...resulting in high Google search rankings of ALL of your blog-powered information.

Google bought a blogging pioneer, Blogger, last week and they say they don't even know how they are going to use the company! [NY Times - requires free subscription]

OK. Can you think of a reason why your business shouldn't start a business-blog (b-blog)?

Reasons why you might not want to blog:

• you have no timely information to share with your customers or prospects
• you are happy with the results and ROI from banner and email marketing
• your current search engine optimization company has guaranteed you top positions in 3-6 months
• you have heard that blogging is a fad and won't last

Before you adding to this tongue-in-cheek list, here is a list of a few business benefits of starting to blog immediately:

• high search ranking on Google with no paid-submission (Google is one of the few engines that doesn't have a paid submission program)
• Google's competitors will position you higher -- everyone watches the leader and most improve your search positions due to high Google PageRank
• high ROI - pay-per-click is a great vehicle but no-cost marketing has infinite ROI
• you are creating this visibility with information that you should be sharing with your customers and prospects anyway
• new information appears on Google in days, not weeks
• other bloggers point prospects towards you -- for free!

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