This week I was writing an article for an association of chambers of commerce about blogging.  During my research, I was trying to locate chambers that had blogs in a certain state.   After trying several searches and having little luck, I pulled up a list of all chambers in that state and starting visiting their websites, one by one. 

 I found one (ONLY ONE!) chamber that had a blog linked from the home page of the site where a visitor could easily find it.  A few others had links to their blog buried under “About the Chamber” or something similar. And I’m sure even more chambers have blogs that I simply couldn’t find.

I’m glad that some chambers are using blogs and social media to reach out to their member and community, but why are they hiding it?   One of the main reasons for using social media is so that people can find you and engage in conversations with you.  If you’re trying to reach members who may be unfamiliar with social media, why not make it easier for them to find?

Sure, you can mention it in your printed and email newsletters.  And, you can tell everyone about it at your events.  But, what about the members who don’t see those communications or don’t come to events?  What about the prospective members or young professionals who visit your site to learn more about you?   How will they know about all that great content you’re working so hard to create when they can find it?

Find a way to get a link to your blog from your home page.  Now.  It can be a link or in rollover navigation or even in a graphic.  (And still cross-promote it in other areas.)  Just make sure you’re finding ways for people to find your blog.