During the course of conversations clients often ask me, “Should we start a blog?”

• They’ve seen or heard the “buzz” surrounding blogs and wonder if they should start one.
    
• They’ve read books, such as The New Rules of Marketing and PR, by my buddy David Meerman Scott.
  
  
• Or maybe someone has told them that blogs are great for SEO (search engine optimization) so they absolutely should have one.

Yet, they hesitate. “Do blogs really increase sales,” they’ll ask. Or, “I really don’t have anything to say. How will I keep the blog going?” Or, “We sell widgets. Do companies like ours have successful blogs?”

To answer these questions – and others – Internet Hall of Famer Diana Huff and I discuss how to determine whether a blog is right for your company.

Who am I?

I'm Ted Demopoulos. I have been on the Internet forever, starting in the late seventies in college, and way back in 79 I started using email, before the term 'email' was even coined.

I've run my consulting and speaking business online since 1990 and probably made every Internet mistake in the book, yet gotten enormous business benefits from the Internet from the very start!

I'm the author of What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting and the co-author of Blogging for Business, yet I still regularly tell clients NOT to start blogs!

"You're telling me exactly how to grow my online presence to a new level!"
  –Becky McCray,  Co-host of Small Biz Startup TV and author of Small Biz Survival

Yes, often I suggest blogging to my B2B clients as it can be a phenomenal business tool, but blogging is NOT for everyone or every business.

Now Business Blogging works for me, and it may be good choice for you too:

• It positions me as an expert.

• It puts more money in my pocket.

• It helps me book speeches and consulting, my core business activities.

• It turbocharges my networking, and often in business it’s not what you know, but who you know and who knows you.

But blogging, just like everything else, takes time. There may be better ways to spend your time.

Now I don't know about you, but I have a business, three little kids and a wife I love spending time with, and even hobbies I occasionally get to enjoy. My time is limited!

If we all had infinite time, I'd suggest blogging for almost everyone.

 "Ted always has the answers when it come to blogging." 
  –Dan Janal, PR Leads

I need to concentrate on what gives me the "biggest bang for the buck" in my business, and you probably do too.

Blogging is a great choice for many people, maybe you, and many companies, but why waste time if it's not a good fit?

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE what I do -- but I'd usually rather be playing with Stacie, Amelia, and Jamie, my 4, 6, and 8 year olds. My wife Margaret even gets some time although not nearly enough.

I'm assuming you have a life too, and hence limited time, or at least you're fighting to have a life apart from business as I often feel I am.

The Internet has changed the face of business, and the Internet and its business uses are changing rapidly.

In ancient Internet times, say maybe 4 years ago, the Internet was primarily “read-only."

Companies presented content on static pages – and we read it. Updating this content took specialized programming knowledge, and waiting for those changes to go “live” could sometimes take days and even weeks as swamped IT departments dealt with multiple projects and fires.

However, creating content and placing it online has never been easier – and the easiest way to create content, and the most popular, is via a blog. There are over 70 million blogs in existence today on topics ranging from the plastics industry to marketing to the car business, and every imaginable topic in between.

In fact, you have CEOs, engineers, marketers, consultants, dentists, doctors, writers, and even a Forbes journalist posing as a fake CEO of a Fortune 500 blogging to great success.

Just because 70 million blogs exist, including many successful B2B blogs, doesn’t mean blogging is right for you.

How do you know if you should start a blog? Find out at this exclusive teleclass recording: B2B Small Business Workshop: Is a Blog Right For You?

 "Ted is the KING of Blogging."
  –James Malinchak, co-author of "Chicken Soup for the Athlete's Soul" and "Chicken Soup for the College Soul"

In this teleclass, I strip away the hype surrounding blogs to discuss what you should consider before you jump feet first into the blogosphere. In this one-hour session, you’ll learn: