I was looking up some general information on the benefits of small business blogging, and came across this post that gave some great statistics.

Small Business Trends explained the statistics in the following way.

Small businesses that blog have:

• 55% more visitors to their website.
• 97% more links to their website which is a primary factor in where your website shows up in search results. (Want a higher ranking, get quality links to your site).
• 434% more indexed pages – this is the number of pages that show up in search engines. Just because you have a site doesn’t guarantee it is being indexed (findable). Just because some of your pages are in search engines doesn’t mean all of your pages are.

Here’s the general idea:

It would appear that business blogging is potentially a great avenue to invest in. However, I agree with Small Business Trends that business blogging isn’t for everyone, especially those who are new to the social media arena. Here are some questions to ask yourself before beginning a blog:

1. Do you know your audience? Who are you writing to, and what do they need to know?

2. How often should you post? Do you know your industry blogging standards?

3. How will you generate content? Will you have the time to devote to writing blog posts?

If you’re unsure of the answers to any of these questions, perhaps you should consider hiring a consultant to get your social media efforts underway. (note: shameless plug)