My interest in growth hacking all started with one book - Growth Hacker Marketing  by Ryan Holiday. After reading his amazing book, I became obsessed with finding cost-effective, data-driven strategies to grow businesses. Who wouldn't want to only spend $5 to acquire 5 million users? The TV ad days are over. It's all about finding a viral way to grow without blowing your money on marketing tactics that don't even allow you to analyze its ROI. That's wasteful!

As a final project for my Information Technology and Informatics class, I had to create an infographic featuring an emerging technology. I obviously chose blogging. Blogging is so simple that it can sometimes be overlooked. Though it may seem to be irrelevant, the data proves its benefits and advantages. 

It all started on January 19994 when Justin Hall decided to create the first blog ever, Link.net. From there, the term "weblog" turned into what we know it as today, "blog." Blogging kick-started in the early 2000's with just a few bloggers. Now, blogging is 37.6% of social networking sites and there's over 152 million active blogs. With millions logging into to the blogosphere, it has become the new source of advertisement and marketing for companies. Working with a tight budget, small businesses need this type of growth hack to level up their strategies.

If the information on the inforgraphic still doesn't convince you to blog, here's some more teasers that I know you won't be able to resist:

1. It's cheap and sometimes free!

Blogger is a free site where you can host your blog and even create your company site. Its user-friendly interface is perfect for website newbies.WordPress is another thrifty option. Unfortunately, it may cost you if you want to customize your site more. As for domains, they run for about $12 - $18. Imagine spending only $12 to grow your busy 12x what it is now. Well you don't have to imagine anymore because you can actually do it!

2. It's easy to start.

Who doesn't like making easy money? All you have to do is create a site, download a free template, and start typing. It's not that hard - honestly. If you host your site on Blogger, there are hundreds of free templates out there that you can use (obviously I'm a Blogger advocate). If you want to get real fancy and spend a couple more bucks, you can hire a web designer to customize your site for you. You can also ask a friend or hire an intern looking for experience. There's tons of articles and YouTube videos that can help you figure out how to blog. So many options! All cheap and easy!

3. It's fun and helps your company improve.

Losing money because you can't tell whether a marketing tactic worked or not is NOT fun. With blogging, the graphs and analytics spell it out for you. Say goodbye to guess and check and process of elimination. You can take this data and turn it into something useful. Customers aren't viewing your post about black leather in summer but loving your post about crop tops in the summer? Maybe it's time to take out black leather from your inventory! Data is actionable feedback. Now you don't have to pester your customers to take that survey about your Summer 2016 Collection.

In making this final project for my class, we had to think of a purpose. My purpose for informing you, my audience, about blogging is so that you can take this information and put it into action. As you can see, there are so many benefits to blogging. This simple technology can improve and enhance your company. Just give it a try and see for yourself.