You’re busy. You’ve got a thousand things going on each and every day. Why on earth should you stop what you’re doing and bang out a few hundred words on a blog post? After all, who’s going to read it anyway? Does it really matter? It all depends on why you blog for business. The reasons are as varied as the people and companies who fill the Internet with their passion, their expertise and their thoughts each and every day.

Many, many people blog for search engine optimization (SEO) benefits. These posts are often craftsman-like affairs, built like you’d build a sturdy table or chair. It’s almost blogging by numbers: find keyword. Build post around said keyword. Spin out into 300 words or more and call it a day. Submit and watch the organic traffic roll in. Repeat day after day until you have a blog that ranks well for the keyword in question.

Other people and companies blog for the sheer joy of educating. Whether or not readers become customers, these people feel driven to share and to tell people all about their industry and their expertise. The amazing thing about these bloggers is that often, without trying, they attract exactly the business they want. By writing with passion and verve and expecting nothing in return, they find that the business comes rolling in.

Still others don’t know why they blog, only that they should. They shuffle through desultory blog posts, sometimes flirting with keywords, other times firing off stream-of-consciousness screeds. But eventually the fires extinguish and that weekly blogging becomes monthly. Quarterly. Once in a Mayan baktun.

Bottom line: It doesn’t matter your reason for blogging–it just matters that there is a reason. There is no wrong reason for blogging for business. It’s okay to be mercenary. It’s okay to say you want to do it to bring in new clients. It’s equally okay to view it as a public service and to just put that good karma out into the universe and expect that it will come back to you.  What’s not okay is just throwing content up there and hoping for the best. All that will lead to is a firm belief that blogging is a waste of time. And you’ll be absolutely right–blogging in that way is an absolute waste of your time.

So why do you blog? If you aren’t blogging, what’s stopping you?