Can you generate leads for your business by blogging?

The short answer is yes.  The long answer is a bit more complex.

Blogs are a way to provide information to people.  How well your information does at generating leads has less to do with the medium (In this case blogs) and more to do in developing a lead generation strategy and crafting the blog and information you produce to get lead generation results.

If you want to primarily use a blog to generate leads and you are not worried about establishing yourself as an industry expert, then you need to craft a strategy that focuses on ranking well for important keywords and having a clear call to action that results in leads.  Something like downloading a free study or taking a free course.

The blogging mistake people make is that they use a blog the way they think it is supposed to be used.  There is not one way to use a blog.  A blog for lead generation is much different from a personal blog or a blog that is meant to establish you as an expert.  Your lead generation blog should have minimal distractions and focus on your primary call to action.  Period.  Less navigation, no blogroll and no adwords or advertisements.  (No, this blog is not for lead generation)

This works really well if you want lead generation with blogs – but you have to get the system and formula right and start out with the best blog strategy.