Especially in today’s extremely competitive market place, a blog is one of the most important marketing tools that you could possibly have in your marketing arsenal. The one main thing that a blog does, is it ties all your marketing campaigns together to one single location which I call your “central hub”.

This is where people can go to find out more about you. And the great thing is, this is your chance to shine and really show the world what you are about. It’s all about customization folks. Unlike other social sites like Facebook and Youtube, where you are bound by the limitations of the programs, you can actually customize your entire blog. From the colour of your borders to what funky plug-ins you want for functionality, to the different menu tabs you want to navigate people to.

But besides being able to fully customize your own site, why blog?

Well, these are the main advantages of having your own living website.

1. Self Branding

By having a blog (especially if it looks professional) you will be branding YOU and will automatically position yourself as someone of authority. You also get to tell people your story and this allows them to connect with you as a real person which is so important. This is a people business. The more people know you, the more likely they are to like you and eventually join you.

2. Educate & Inspire

Since you will have to write articles and posts, this is how you can educate and inspire all your readers. Writing strong and compelling content will further solidify you as an authority in this industry and will position you as the expert that people will turn to when they need help. But the great thing is, you really have the freedom to write about anything! It doesn’t always have to be about your mind blowing marketing tactics. Sometimes it’s just enough to write about what’s going on in your life. Again, the more you share, the easier it is for your readers to get to know you and like you.

3. Generate Leads

Yes! Your blog is a marketing tool. And like most marketing tools, it should be generating leads for you. If you already have a blog and it’s not doing this for you, then you got a little tweaking to do tonight. The great thing is, you can add this tactic to your list of free strategies. We all love free strategies and this is definitely one that you should be taking advantage of.

So having your own blog allows your prospects to get to know and trust you, builds up your credibility and industry authority and generates leads into your business?? What could be better?