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“What’s the point of blogging? I often get asked. Usually followed by “But can you make any money blogging?” In fact that was the main discussion topic over dinner with my colleagues and fellow consultants at our Christmas dinner in the Institute of Management Consultants in Ireland.
I usually remind people that when they are considering starting a business blog, increasing your profits comes from both growing your top line (more clients, more sales, more revenues) and managing your bottom line (reducing your overhead). For me, blogging can assist in both of these aspects.

For example, you can use your business blog to:

• promote your expertise and services and if you write great content rich articles, using your blog as part of your marketing strategy can attract more clients
• sell products and services from your blog, for example doing a review of an affiliate product and then providing your affiliate link for the product (you could even do a book review and then add your affiliate link for books that you recommend on Amazon)
• save dramatically on your PR and media budget – if you write articles that are relevant and compelling to journalists and media researchers, you can be sure that they will seek you out as many people in the media are using the search engines to research for their articles. Just think, the media will contact you and you can fire your PR consultant!

You will note that I have omitted Google AdSense as personally I do not recommend online advertising for business blogs in professional services firms who are looking to build a premium online brand and reputation.
If you are interested in how you can make money blogging, and you are in Ireland, then make sure you head along to the debate being hosted by the Irish Internet Association on the 4 December 2007 called “You can not make money out of blogs”.

I am actually opposing team and therefore my position will be that you can make money through blogging. Taking part will be:

For the motion of you can not make money out of blogs:

• Niall Kitson, Editor PC Live! – Captain
• Gareth Dunlop, MD, Tibus
• Keith Bohanna, Internet Consultant, KeithBohanna.com

For the opposing team and taking a stance tat you can make money out of  blogging:

• Peter Lawless, Director, 3R Sales & Marketing – Captain
• Alastair McDermott, MD, LogOn Marketing
• Krishna De, brand strategist an social media marketing consultant, Biz Growth News

It is sure to be a lively debate as i know at least one of the team members who will actually be suggesting you can not make money out of blogs is an avid blogger!
So if you are based in Ireland and are interested in whether business blogging is right for you, why not join me next Tuesday at 6pm at The Vaults D1, adjacent to Dublin’s Connolly Station and within the IFSC centre. You will find directions here and it’s only €10 to attend. You can book your place at the IIA website.
And if you have any suggestions to help my team along with case studies on how you have made money through your blog do let me know won’t you – I’d love to showcase your business blog.