At CFOwise, we have decided to start a blog for two reasons: We hope the content we write will, in some way, add value to our clients and to start-up, emerging, and medium-sized businesses around the world, and Experts in Internet marketing have told us that by publishing this content on the web, the opportunity for our influence as CFO consultants in the capacity of part-time CFO jobs in our market space to grow will be enhanced.  Hopefully it is fitting that we try to define the value that blogging can bring in our first blog.
 
So, here it goes (please note that our comments on blogging refer only to professional content used for commercial purposes): Blogging helps position you and your firm as an expert in your field of expertise. It is like a newsletter, but is typically more informal, allows others to make comments, and is often more frequent than a monthly newsletter. For those who are interested, it could give them reason to come back and visit you often. In essence, you can establish a faithful and even an extremely loyal following who are hungry for your content.
 
I'll share a personal example: A good friend of mine has fought a horrible disease for the last several years of his life. He grew weary of continually repeating the updates on his condition to the dozens of people who cared about him and his family. There were those that cared about him that purposefully kept themselves in the dark on his situation just to avoid him expending his energy re-telling his story dozens of times. He began keeping a blog in which he gave updates. Interestingly, his absolutely hilarious sense of humor came through perfectly on his blog, and everyone was able to remain a part of his life without overwhelming him. He still updates his blog and my wife and I visit it often - we have become very loyal followers. In fact, if he forgets to update the blog for a week or two, we are disappointed and become anxious to hear how he is doing. That example has many applications to business. With a small effort, a business can reach a large audience through blogging. If you need to reach people on the web, you can optimize your blog based on your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. I have been told that the more content you have, the more likely you are to be picked up in keyword searches on the major search engines. If you want to accomplish this, then I definitely recommend you meet with an expert in this field and receive their assistance.
 
How do you determine the value that blogging can bring to your firm? Let's suppose someone in your organization spends 2 hours per week on your blog, or about 100 hours per year, representing about 5% of a person's time with a regular 40 hour work week. Assuming the person writing your blog receives annual compensation, including payroll burden and benefits, of $75,000, you are committing almost $4,000 towards this activity. Using the perception that the compensation is a sunk cost with no opportunity cost, we can conclude that you should make the commitment to blog so long as it will add at least $13,000 ($4,000 desired gross profit divided by assumed 30% gross margin) in new business (either from new or existing customers). Starting the blog is easy. Committing to and delivering the content regularly is usually the hardest part. If you make the commitment, blogging will certainly increase the value of your brand, and you will probably be able to justify the expense by the business it stimulates.