If you have a business and have been thinking about increasing your reach on the internet, but have rejected the thought of starting your own blog, then this article was written just for you! I know, I know, you are busy with your business and bogged down by all the work your business entails. Just the thought of having to add an extra task to your day just rattles the mind.

But before you block yourself off to the idea, read ahead and let the possibilities of blogging percolate. You will see that with a little effort and almost no cost you can open your business to a whole new audience and identify areas where your business can expand.

Can blogging really do all this, you ask? Well, yes.

Blogging started in the 1990's and was coined "weblog" after an American blogger called Jorn Barger who created a website t0 "log the web". This website was a compilation of links to his favorite sites and was more like today's bookmarking sites than today's blog. The term "weblog" was shortened to "blog" and quickly morphed into a verb. Early blogs were personal diaries and platforms for sharing information and ideas on the internet, but once companies and developers made software and tools that made blogging easy, it took off. Today businesses have harnessed the power of blogs and are using this medium to promote a business-client dialogue which directly enhances their business relationships and marketing.

Blogs share information.

Today we are an information-sharing society and good, relevant information is today's new currency. Sharing your knowledge and experience is valuable in today's highly connected world. Consumers are not just shopping for what they want, they are researching what they want and will actively seek out any and all information about their desired products and services. I know I have researched many products and read their reviews before even considering buying them. Heck, on many sites the reviews are shared right on the product page next to the "add to cart" button. Your unique recommendation on a product or service on your blog could be the holy grail of advice for a consumer doing some product research on the internet. This could create a new blog viewer, possibly a new subscriber to your blog and down the road, a new customer for life. And since blog information is easy to share, your post can reach many others via sharing on social networking sites, social bookmarking sites and mobile media.

Blogs help promote.

Blogs can help you establish yourself as a qualified expert in your field when your content is fresh, up to date and beneficial to your readers. You do not want to use your blog to just spout off about how great your business is or make a mini-commercial for your products and services. This is not the place for that.

Blogs can help promote your reputation in your location for your specific field of business by continually featuring your knowledge. Only you have your experiences from years of work, challenges and triumphs in your business niche and your recommendations carry great weight. Position yourself and your business as "the place to go" for quality, service and advice.

Blogs as a marketing tool.

Once your audience connects with you, whether it be on a personal level, through your blog or a video, you can continue your communication via blog posts. A very unique feature of a blog is the comment functionality. Your readers can post comments and ask questions relevant to your topic which can give you great insight. Whether they applaud your views or bring up new issues, their feedback is priceless and a marketer's dream. You can get direction on where to improve product features or implement needed services just from information gathered from your target market.

Blogs help you network.

Your audience should not be limited to your customers or clients, but can extend to other business owners and business contacts. Blogs are a good resource for networking business owners to find out more about you and your points of view. Since blogs are more of a conversation and not a press release, a lot can be gleaned from the overall tone and language that you may not get from a business website. You can show your value to your community and commitment to service by having good, honest content and sharing that with other business owners on their blogs as well.

Blogs and Videos.

There may be times that sitting and writing a blog post may not be the quickest or most effective medium for sharing information. Many bloggers add videos instead of a written post to share their ideas. If you have an new product review or a new recommendation which will have more impact with video, then sharing in this format is quick and easy. Videos can be easily uploaded, shared and indexed on your blog and will bring a new dimension to your posts. All you need is an inexpensive flip camera, a webcam or even a smartphone video to share your information. Some people choose to only do Video Blogs or "Vlogs" for their posts. Additionally, The audio content of a video can be extracted and used as a audio podcast and shared through podcasting channels for subscribers.

Blogs are SEO (Search Engine Optimization) friendly.

Blogs are websites called "content management systems" that have an optimized site architecture and are easily searchable by search engines. All that means in lay terms, is that blogs can manage your content, whether it be text, audio and/or video and it is easily indexed to be found. Search engine robots continuously crawl the web looking for fresh, relevant content. According to Google, a Google-friendly site has content visitors are looking for, has other sites linking to it and has a logical link structure. A well executed blog has all these attributes.

Now that you have a greater idea of Blog Power, you might want to visit some blog sites like Wordpress.org, Wordpress.com, Blogger.com, Squidoo.com or Tumblr.com and check out what they offer. Let the world hear your voice on a blog!