Some time ago, I published an article here on Nairaland on blogging. In that article, I talked about creating a mental shift about blogging in Nigeria.

The post generated some reactions that were quite revealing.

Those reactions suggested that there's still a long way to go in Nigeria with regards to catching up with 'new' trends and development.

One of the contributors said: "I don't think you should call blogging a profession. Blogging is more or less freelancing."

How confused he must be!

To some people, blogging is more or less another form of "Yahoo-Yahoo" or better still, a consolation for the jobless ones among us.

The following facts suggest otherwise:

1. 60% of companies believe that using a company blog is beneficial to business.
2. In 2016, 36% of Fortune 500 companies have a public blog.
3. 56% of bloggers who maintain blogs for a business say that their blog has helped their company establish a position as a thought leader in the industry.
4. 69% of businesses attribute their lead generation success to blogging.
5. B2C companies that blog generate 88% more leads per month than those that do not.

There are much more jaw-dropping statistics on blogging but the ones mentioned here are enough to pass the message.

Unfortunately, many people are there arguing laboriously on whether blogging is a profession or not. SMH.
However, this situation leaves me with just one conclusion:
Those who downplay blogging know next to nothing about it and the several opportunities it creates.

Personally, I haven't seen any blogger - who does it the right way - that blogging hasn't helped to become a better person. Because, let's face it, blogging is all about providing value.

More importantly, entrepreneurs need to have business blogs to rise above their competition.

Here are 6 convincing reasons every entrepreneur should have a business blog:

1. Thought leadership and influence
2. It complements your existing marketing strategy
3. Brand awareness
4. More traffic and targeted leads
5. Better customer relationship
6. Increase in ROI.

So, if you have a business right now but you're using a business blog to promote it, then you're leaving too much money on the table.