An increasing number of online entrepreneurs are recognizing the potential of blogs. As I wrote about a few weeks ago, there are a number of different ways to profit from a blog, selling ads is not the only option. One of the most significant benefits of blogging for entrepreneurs is that it can serve as a home for your profile. By building your blog and the network around it you can increase your exposure, brand yourself as a leader in the industry, and find new and profitable opportunities.
How Can a Blog Help You to Build Your Profile?
1. Your Work is On Display to the Public
A blog allows you to put your work and knowledge on display for all to see. Your profile can gain exposure to thousands of people very easily with a blog, as it is accessible to anyone. Through your blog, readers and visitors will come to know more about you and your work. A blog will open up a much larger audience than you could possibly achieve otherwise.
How you display your work through your blog will depend on what type of ventures and work you are involved in. If you are a writer, a blog will obviously provide you with the opportunity to show off your writing skills. If you are a photographer, a blog will allow you to show you photographs to the world.
2. Your Success is Visible
While you may be successful with or without a blog, the blog can help others to clearly see your success. As you write from your experiences and develop a solid base of readers, others will be able to clearly see that you are successful in your field.
3. It Demonstrates Your Expertise
The top bloggers in any industry are seen as experts and leaders in the field. By writing high-quality articles about your subject of interest you can quickly put yourself in the company of the most respected industry leaders. Proving your expertise is not always easy, but with a blog it is very possible if you are knowledgeable and willing to dedicate time to writing. In my opinion, blogging is one of the most efficient and effective ways to quickly build a profile as a leader in any industry.
4. Networking Within Your Industry is Enhanced
Being an entrepreneur, your network is extremely valuable. There’s no better way to get connected with other like-minded individuals than by blogging and being involved on other similar blogs. Blogging is by nature very community-oriented, and it makes networking easier. Other bloggers are always looking to network with people in related fields, so blogging breaks down some of the barriers that make it difficult to get to know others that would be valuable to have in your network.
5. It Builds Recognition for You
By running a successful blog you can grow your name to be very highly recognized by other entrepreneurs. By putting yourself out in the open for others to see your work, a blog is one of the best and easiest ways to build name recognition.
6. Opportunities Will Find You
When other entrepreneurs have opportunities that they are looking for help with, they frequently approach those that they recognize as experts or leaders. If you are able to use your blog to become known as a leader in your industry, you may be surprised at what opportunities find you.
7. You Will Have an Interested Audience for Promoting Your New Ventures
Once you have built a loyal following for your blog, any new venture that you take on will be easier to promote. If your new venture is related to the subject of your blog, it’s likely that many of your current readers may be interested. You can be much more likely to succeed by launching a new venture when you have an audience that already knows and respects you.
8. The Demand for Your Services Will Be Increased
If you are a service provider, writing informative articles on the subject of your work can help you to increase the demand for your services as others will recognize your knowledge and ability. This is very common for a number of different types of service providers including web designers, graphic artists, consultants, and freelancers of all kinds. When someone has a need for your services, you will be the first person to come to mind and they will be more comfortable with you because they already know you through your blog.
9. You May Be Able to Charge Higher Rates
One of the results of an increase in demand for your services is the ability to charge higher rates. Not only will you have more work to choose from, but if readers see you as an expert, they will be willing to pay top dollar for your services.
10. Increased Income Opportunities Will Be Available
A blog also provides additional income opportunities, such as ad sales, affiliate marketing, paid reviews, etc. Some entrepreneurs use blogs as a primary source of income and others simply attempt to compensate themselves for the time that they devote to the blog.
How Do You Benefit from Your Blog?
As an entrepreneur, in what ways does your blog (if you have one) work for you? Do you use it to build your name recognition, to increase demand for services, or other ways? Are there any additions to this list that you would like to make?
This post was written by Steven Snell
- Subscribe to our RSS feed for instant updates!
- Receive the latest posts by email
- Add me to your Technorati Favourites
23 responses so far ↓
1 Scott Magdalein // Jan 29, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Definitely use it to let people know that I both run an company AND freelance on the side. In the past month, more sales have come through my blog than any other single medium. That’s enough motivation to keep me blogging valuable content.
2 adnan // Jan 29, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Great post Steven. Building your profile as a blogger and entrepreneur is very important in taking your website/business to the next level.
I hear bloggers like Yaro Starak talking about preeminence a lot, and blogging has really helped to build this preeminence and sense of expertise within a niche. I tried to use the same technique with blogLOUDER as well (even though I don’t put as much effort into that these days).
I notice that you’ve used this method particularly well, as you’ve built up a blog with an awesome amount of subscribers, and thus you must really be attracting some great customers for your design business.
3 Joshua // Jan 29, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Nice Post and if you tell more about blog traffic it would be useful too.
4 Glen Allsopp // Jan 29, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Great post steven, are you looking for anymore guest bloggers Adnan?
5 adnan // Jan 29, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Thanks Joshua - we’ll try and get that covered in future posts.
@ Glen: Yep I certainly am. Shoot me an email through my contact form so I remember and we can chat!
6 Steven // Jan 30, 2008 at 12:08 am
Scott,
I’m glad to hear that your blog is producing business for you.
Adnan,
Yeah, Yaro’s a good example. His blog has put him in the spotlight much more than he could have done without a blog.
Joshua,
Thanks for the suggestion. We’ll see what we can do about that.
7 petimi // Jan 30, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Excellent post. I was about to write something about that. As a freelance image consultant it’s so important to communicate my steps and show example via my blog to my clients.
I think I’ve just become your regular reader:)
8 fc // Jan 30, 2008 at 4:27 pm
you got it spot on Steve…
Its been something I have been personally trying out quietly.. in fact am experimenting different entrepreneurial types wit various blog that I own..
and to add to this I think blogs are the best way to kick start online entrepeneurship
9 Steven // Jan 31, 2008 at 12:25 am
Petimi,
I’m glad to hear that we’ll be seeing you around in the future.
fc,
Blogs are definitely a great low-risk way to get started online. All you really have to potentially lose is some time.
10 Eva White // Feb 1, 2008 at 7:48 am
I feel blogs are the best way in which one can express himself. It is a great way to interact with new people from all over the globe.
11 The Best of the Blogosphere: February 1, 2008 | Super Blogging // Feb 1, 2008 at 8:26 am
[...] Using a Blog to Build Your Profile as an Entrepreneur at Blogtrepreneur. “One of the most significant benefits of blogging for entrepreneurs is that it can serve as a home for your profile. By building your blog and the network around it you can increase your exposure, brand yourself as a leader in the industry, and find new and profitable opportunities.” [...]
12 Ross Hill // Feb 1, 2008 at 9:41 am
You don’t even need a personal blog, just have SOMETHING that links out to your other ‘bits’ out there, eg your facebook profile.
For an example see what I’ve done by clicking on my name.
13 Volkan Kalpak // Feb 1, 2008 at 12:51 pm
That is so true! There are lots of bloggers, who are “experts” in my eyes… and the strange thing is, I never heard or seen their names before. So, if your blog posts are really high quality, why not. I’ll trust you. One of the examples is James Brausch. Once you read him, he resonates with you. Not only you trust him, you also start to trust his products and recommendations. There are many examples too. Just think your favorite blog, and you’ll see what I mean.
14 Weekly Links - February 2nd | Vandelay Website Design // Feb 2, 2008 at 2:38 pm
[...] Using a Blog to Build Your Profile as an Entrepreneur at Blogtrepreneur. [...]
15 Best of the ‘Sphere - 3/2/08 » TechnoMoney | Smashing Blogging Tips // Feb 3, 2008 at 3:31 pm
[...] Using a Blog to Build Your Profile as an Entrepreneur from Blogtrepreneur [...]
16 Steven // Feb 3, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Volkan,
Thanks for your feedback. I couldn’t agree more. Someone who you otherwise wouldn’t know can certainly become an expert through a high quality blog.
17 Week 8 - The Overview // Feb 3, 2008 at 7:24 pm
[...] talks about using a blog to build your profile as an online entrepreneur, Derek has launched a contest worth looking into over at his blog and, finally, an interesting [...]
18 adnan // Feb 4, 2008 at 5:17 pm
@ Ross above - that’s a great way of doing things buddy, and it looks really neat if you want to tell any family members etc. Nice idea
19 Steven // Feb 4, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Ross,
I agree with Adnan that it’s a good idea. I think if you did have a blog you would get more traffic and more exposure though.
20 Ross Hill // Feb 5, 2008 at 1:55 am
Sure, a blog could give me more exposure but then I would have to keep it up to date. I try to keep hatchthat.com regular and that is enough for now, especially with the upcoming redesign. I guess I don’t really have anything significantly unique and regular compared to hatchthat.com to write about that would be interesting.
21 Steven // Feb 5, 2008 at 2:16 am
Ross,
Yeah, keeping a blog is definitely ongoing work.
22 Weekly Links - February 2nd by Joe McLaughlin’s Blog // Feb 5, 2008 at 5:38 pm
[...] Using a Blog to Build Your Profile as an Entrepreneur at Blogtrepreneur. [...]
23 Alex // Apr 17, 2008 at 4:07 am
Excellent post. I think having a website/blog that relates to your area of expertise really looks good on a resume..plus who knows..maybe your next boss is a blog reader and just hasn’t found yours yet!
Leave a Comment