People think that Blogging is just a hobby. They write because they like to express their feelings, ideas and activities. But beyond the online journal that you want others to see lies a deeper reason why blogging is so vital.

First of all, what is a blog anyway? It is the MOST SOCIAL of social media. This could be your virtual diary where you type in your thoughts, or your very own "home" on the internet.

You do not blog for yourself - you do so because you want others to read about what YOU write. Now, why is it crucial for you to blog?

Blogging is a "YOU" central

Your blog is your property, your scrapbook -and it allows you to interact with your viewers when they comment. It's where you put your photos, and you want people to know more about yourself. You want to build relationships and make people feel like they know you when they visit your blog.

Blogging Creates Interacton and Builds Relationships by Commenting

You can comment back and create activity on your site. You share yourself to other people and you can promote your business as well. Blogging allows you to let users view your photos and updates. You can also link your blog to your Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube and Twitter accounts. You create a connection with your audience by posting your latest videos, sharing your stories and getting in touch with others.

Encourage people to comment on your posts, photos and videos. Challenge them to speak up. Increase your comments by asking the viewers to leave their opinion. In return, answer their queries or concerns to let them know you are active in maintaining your site.

Blogging Allows You to Embed Contents like Videos, PDF's and Audio

Blogging also allows you to embed contents. You can also promote your new products through embedding media on your site. Embedding PDF's and YouTube videos can be great ways of giving your users the ability to comment on your blog, which is a great form os social media.

Blogging Increases Your SEO Benefits

The SEO benefits are great in this platform. Your blog may find its way up the search engine rankings page once you constantly update it and give relevant contents.

Take 10 of your Longtail keywords and name your blog post one of those keywords. Longtail keywords are phrases that people search everyday that is related to your blog.

You can do internal linking, or link your blog to your own business website. You can also post your Squidoo or Hubpages URL on your blogroll. There are endless ways to promote various sites using this platform.

You Capture Leads by Blogging

By writing a blog, you can capture leads. Allow users to contact you by adding an opt-in form on your page. Give readers something free in return, like a helpful document or audio that they can download. Give them your number one tip for free. Blogs have a low percentage of opt-ins, but get a lot of traffic. This makes the leads that come from blogs much valuable.

RSS Feeds Allow You to Embed Other Peoples Blogs One more thing-do not disregard the benefits of an RSS feed. RSS Feeds give the ability to people to read your blog using an RSS Reader. It also allows you to embed other people's blog information.

Ask people to RSS your feeds. Encourage people to subscribe to your blog. RSS your Twitter, Flicker and YouTube feeds. Use an RSS feed to allow people to talk to you in multiple ways. RSS feeds allow your blog to have dynamically updated content.

When Updating Your Blog, Do Not Forget to PING!

Why do you have to Ping anyway? Well, Pinging lets the world know that you have updated your blog! Do not forget to ping only once when you change your site or update it, and you will be surprised how much impact it can do!