Today sees the publication of a totally new free report, The Top 10 Reasons Why You Need A Blog !

It’s my belief that almost any business that has an online presence, no matter how small, would benefit from having a blog of some kind.

In this free report, I explore the arguments in favour of having a blog. It’s never been easier to have a great looking blog at almost zero cost. For me, the potential benefits, both tangible and otherwise, make it a no-brainer.

The release of this report is important for me in another way. It marks the launch of the rog-blog.com Mailing List. As I say in my report, I see members of a mailing list as “best friends” because these are the first group of people that I will share my best stuff with.

When I spot something particularly interesting or useful, mailing list members will be the first to know. For example, I already have plans for not one but two more free reports.

I really want this report to have the widest possible circulation, so please use the opt-in box in the sidebar to get your free copy now.

Please feel free to blog about the report … Oh, and by the way, I’d really love to hear what you think of it. I’ve set up a special page where you can leave your comments.

I look forward to hearing from you.

I should stress that the cash goes to a charity of your choice and that this is only “a research project” at this stage. They also cite the laudable intent of impacting the volume of spam, suggesting that even at 1 cent per email, that would cost spammers millions of dollars each day.

They say that the system would be entirely voluntary and “opt-in”. They go on to suggest that …

“CentMail will essentially be free for the majority of users who already give yearly charitable donations. … By making these donations through CentMail (as opposed to directly to the charity), users will spend no additional money, but will be provided with CentMail’s service.” (Source: centmail.net/faq)

I really don’t have a strong opinion on this one way or the other at the moment because I don’t know enough about all of the underlying issues. But I can foresee problems. For example, overlooking the fact that although the US is, of course, probably the largest internet user, it’s not the only one ! Besides, my favourite charities may not participate in the scheme.

There will also be those that consider that this is fundamentally against the ethos of the internet, that access to it should be largely unrestricted.

Whatever happens, the way I see it is this. If you’re using the internet to foster a relationship with your prospects and customers and it suddenly costs you money to send them email, you had better have fairly deep pockets or some alternative way of keeping that relationship alive. Social media may be one way, but the best alternative may be your blog.

What do you think ?

(Photo from sxc.hu by Nbauer.)

I’d like to thank everybody that supported Blog Of The Day. It was an experience that taught me a lot and I aim to apply what I have learned in my blogging in the future. I should also add that there were some great blogs that I couldn’t include in the awards, simply because there were not enough days !

Finally, two things: first, I started out with the intention of making occasional awards for Commendable Comments … but I just didn’t have the time to read all the comments for all of the posts on all of the blogs I looked at. Sorry folks.

Secondly, I will continue The rog-blog.com Blog Awards in some format in the future. I haven’t dcided quite how, but it won’t be daily. More likely weekly or monthly. Watch this space for more news !

So here it is: a review of the winners followed by the revelation of the winner, The Blog Of Blogs. My congratulations to the winner !

Today’s winner was one of the first blogs that I looked at when I started my coaching with Alex Jeffreys. At the time, I remember being mightily impressed and having revisited it several times since then, my initial feelings about it have only been strengthened. This guy is one to watch.

I like the look and feel of his blog, though I know that for some a black background is a bit of a turn-off. Personally, I like it in this context. However, as regular “BOTD” readers all know, whilst good looks are important to me, they are definitely not the only thing that I’m looking for.

One of those other things is great content and this guy gives really high quality information both in text and video form. One of the other things that I like is that it’s primarily a blog about blogging … the longer I study this subject, the more I’m convinced that it is key to successful marketing online.

I know that this is not his first blog and the fact that he’s got tons of experience in this arena comes through in what he does here. However, he’s also used this blog as a platform to launch a great series of videos on how to “do” WordPress blogs. I’ve had a peek at this and I have to tell you that it’s excellent.

I know that he’s already earning good money from his blogs and he’s been very up front about his goals. My guess is that he will exceed them.

Matthew Wolfe is definitely one to watch, and so is his blog, matthewwolfe.com.

Congratulations Matt, your Blog Of The Day Award badge is on its way !

It’s my first and I’m happy to admit that it’s a little “rough and ready”, but I hope that it proves useful – please let me know whether it helps.