Can I get the benefits of a blog without blogging?

Article updated October 17, 2015  First, let's talk about the benefits of blogging.

Blog Writing Benefits

• Personal and product branding
• Adding value and reasons to believe in you
• Customer relationship building
• Expertise sharing
• Brand and product awareness
• Customer traffic and search engine optimization (SEO)...

But if you don't have the resources to write blog posts regularly, you may be able to get many of the benefits of owning a blog from other online sources.

How to Get the Benefits of a Blog Without Blogging

• Be a guest blogger. If you (or your company) have something really valuable to share, ask to be a guest blogger or be interviewed by a relevant blog. Be sure to follow the article with two lines or so about you, your company, and a link back to your company.
• Comment on blogs. Leaving thoughtful, valuable comments on another blog makes you look smart. And discoverable.
• Leverage LinkedIn
• If you have employees, set up a business page profile on LinkedIn.
• Keep your profile up-to-date and active: Update your status with news announcements and books, add events, connect with colleagues, list articles and media about your company, and request and provide endorsements
• Create an industry-specific group to share news and information -- or join others and participate in the conversations. Here’s an example of mine: San Diego Interactive Content Professionals.
• Micro-blog. If you have a lot to share, share it a little bit at a time on Twitter.
• Photo blog. Start a public photo account for you and your business on a photo-sharing site like Instagram or Flickr. Be sure to put the title, description, and tags to good use so you are more easily found. More photo blogging tips and ideas.
• Video blog. Create a You-Tube account for your business. Share tips, demos, and interviews related to your business.

The idea is to get your message and brand out there in other ways, wherever your customer may be.  These are just a few social media tools you can use -- you can also share documents and presentations, create public forums on Google Groups, use Facebook, share articles on Digg, and a whole heck of a lot more. Adding a blog later when you have a clear vision of what you'll write, how you'll accomplish it, and for what primary purpose, is icing.  Just remember, if you choose not to blog, do be sure to update your content on your web site frequently. An out-of-date, unchanging web site that has no valuable content is a sad place to visit -- for your customers and for search engines.