I got caught in a Chain Letter 2.0. If I complete this task fame and fortune will be mine. If not, harm will come to me, my business, and my hair line.

OK, it’s not so bad. My friend and fellow blogger Michael Brooks of 60 Second Ideas (no relation, but that does remind me I need to call my Uncle Michael,) tagged me after writing his own post on the subject.

The task is to come up with 5 Reasons Why I Blog. Without further ado:

1. Holistic Web Marketing. I love blogs and blogging, but I see it as part of a bigger whole. We combine our flyte blog with our web marketing podcast, email newsletter, the other two blogs I either write or contribute to, our Web site, search engine optimization, article marketing and other online (and traditional) marketing. With this integrated approach, we don’t need to take out any advertising or do outgoing or cold calls…but we still have a full pipeline of business.
2. Establish flyte as Web design and Internet marketing experts. We spend a lot of time learning about new ways to market online and testing them out. We feel this is important for small business owners and entrepreneurs if they want to succeed online. For those searching for these kind of answers, we want to show them we’re thinking the same way.
3. Search Engine Optimization. As the flyte blog has matured and become a trusted resource at the search engines, we’re getting a lot more traffic from Google and the other SE’s. Because the search engines index our blog so often, it’s easy to take advantage of an emerging trend and blog about it.
4. Generate Hot Leads. In reviewing our stats, I can see that although Google provides over 50% of our traffic to our Web site, only .42% were converting (completing our contact form and/or signing up for our email newsletter.) By comparison, 2.09% of visitors who came from flyte’s blog converted and 1.91% of visitors who came from our Internet Marketing 101 blog converted. That’s about a 500% increase in conversion rates.
5. Three Distribution Channels for Just One Post. With every post I write I get three different distribution channels, meaning that my readers can choose how they want to receive my content.
1. There’s the Web page that’s created that people can read, link to, and that the search engines can index and serve up on results pages.
2. For people who discover the blog but don’t want to check back every day to see if there’s a new post, there’s the newsfeed that people can subscribe to using Bloglines or a newsreader like NetNewsWire (my favorite). They can also have my posts appear on their MyYahoo or MyMSN type pages.
3. Finally, since most of the world doesn’t yet "get" newsfeeds, people can subscribe via an email signup box and get each post delivered to their email box. What could be easier than that?!?

Bonus Reason: I like it! Blogging has been a great way for me to crystallize and explain all the new things I’m learning. I don’t really understand anything until I find a way to explain it to someone else. Plus, I’ve met a whole bunch of interesting people who blog and link to me or that I link to. Some day I’d like to meet them all out for a beer. I’ve also made connections with other bloggers who now send work my way or we hire them to help us out. It’s been an amazing networking opportunity that knows no geographical boundaries. (Hmmm…that’s like three bonus reasons, but who’s counting.)

OK, now it’s time for me to pass on the virus. I tag:

• David Whitten of Maine Real Estate Blog
• Katie Sternberg and Allison Kurpius of Fix Your Marketing Blog
• Jim Cosgrove of Maine Coast Properties Blog
• Greg Myroth of the Art Pottery Blog
• Lynnelle Bianco of Making It Happen

Rich Brooks
Business Blogger