I’m among the biggest fans of blogs and I love the Top of Mind Awareness benefits that a Facebook fan page brings a business. BUT, they have their pitfalls, too. 

Picture your website like a flat dartboard, only people and search engines walk the dartboard instead of throw darts at it! There are many pages (the numbers) that can lure your customers to your website or that can distract them from what they came to your site for in the first place. Your goal is to get them to the bull’s eye – your contact page. That is your core – the central reason to have a website (spur more sales) and among the top reasons you are in business (to make money). 

So why in the world would you send someone off your site for your key giveaway – your blog? When writing a blog properly, you are giving away some great advice and information that customers and potential customers can use. Why send them somewhere else to read about it? You go them to the gold (your website) and they are so close to the treasure! 

Now please don’t get me wrong – WordPress, Blogger and most of the other blogging sites are great. They are set up properly for RSS and more. But to promote your business off of an off-site blog instead of your own site? You’d have to be a bit crazy! 

Same goes for Facebook fan pages. I’m a fan of the fan pages, but I also realize its purpose. The fan pages were designed for interaction and to help create Top of Mind Awareness. They serve a great purpose, but NOT to host your blog. I have had several clients wish that they could just place their blog on their Facebook fan page for convenience. I highly discourage it. Here are reasons why:

+ The blog on your site keeps customers close to your treasure – your call to action or contact page!

+ You want traffic drawn to your page and NOT to Blogger, WordPress or Facebook.

+ More traffic to your site through your blog means more credibility in the eyes of search engines.

+ By having your blog on your site, you’ve lured customers and potential customers to your site. That’s a challenge in itself. Maybe they’ll explore your site after reading what you have to say on your blog? 

There are many perks to having a blog and understanding its benefit. Same goes for other social media efforts. But, social media misused can be disastrous for your valiant efforts. 

Jason M. Rodriguez is the founder of www.JayRodChicago.com, a social media, public relations and freelance writing company based in Chicago. He publishes a new blog every Monday at http://www.JayRodChicago.com/blog

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