Surely you have been bombarded with the conventional wisdom that you need to be blogging. And the conventional wisdom makes sense: there are a lot of reasons that you should be building your expertise and authority via the blogosphere.
A key question is whether you should make your blog part of your website or set up a separate blog at a different url. There are pros and cons to both approaches. We will run through some of the key decision points.
Ease of Management
If you already manage your website through a Content Management System (CMS) that gives you the ability to post articles, as well as allowing users to comment, it might be easiest to start blogging, or posting articles, through your current website. Get your feet wet and make sure you are committed to posting on a regular basis.
But if you don’t have a solid CMS, or want to use a tool specifically made for blogging, you will likely want to go with one of the web-based tools like http://wordpress.com or http://tumblr.com. These tools are awesome for managing a blog. But keep in mind they are yet another place you need to go to manage your web content. Having lots of different logins can be overwhelming.
Assuming you, or someone on your team, has some technical expertise, a good option could be to install WordPress or other blogging software on your own server. Then you can harness all the power of WordPress and have your blog posts woven into the fabric of your main website. This is a great approach, but you better be ready to install the necessary ongoing security patches. Blogging software is a prime target for those trying to hack into websites.
Tools/Functionality
I am a strong advocate of starting simple. If you have never blogged, you might want to start by adding an articles section to your site as you develop your voice. But if you have visions of being a power blogger, you really want to consider using a tool like WordPress, which has an unending number of add-on functions that are easy to install and will allow you to add functionality to your blog over time.
SEO and Overall Exposure
As far as search engine exposure is concerned, you will find two differing opinions of whether you should make your blog part of your website. One school of thought is that the more content-rich pages you add to your website, the better. You will be giving Google more pages and content to index. The other school of thought is that there is benefit to developing a network of website domains that are utilized for different purposes. Interlinked websites can help you broaden your reach.
If you currently have very little content on your site, other than products, then adding the blog to your site is an excellent idea for SEO purposes. But if your site is already brimming over with articles and information, a blog at a separate domain, with a focused message, can be an excellent approach. Just be sure you are driving traffic back to your main site.
Personal Branding
Part of your business strategy might be to develop a blog that is a little on the personal side – more of an effort to build your personal brand and assert your expertise. Having a separate domain for your blog can help creative a bit of a buffer. This can be a good thing, if you are planning to push the envelope a bit and don’t want your personal views front and center for all your customers, but only a certain segment.
Cost
Services like wordpress.com and tumblr.com are free/low-cost and super-easy to get going with. These can be a great place to jump in. Your hosting company might offer blogging add-ons at a low cost or you might be able to add open source software that will effectively cost you nothing but the time to install it and maintain it. You likely shouldn’t have to pay more than $10/mo. for a full-featured blogging platform. If it is in your budget, it could pay to work with a designer who specializes in developing blogs and can take care of all the details.
Conclusion
Blogging successfully requires that you develop a routine. There is nothing worse than a blog that is not getting updated. As a first step into blogging, I would choose the option that you feel makes ongoing management the easiest for you. Once you develop your voice, consider whether an on-site blog will give you an added boost with SEO and overall exposure or if you can utilize a managed service elsewhere that has all the bells and whistles you need.
