Should you blog?

Should your business website have a blog

The age old question, to blog or not to blog if your business is product or service based… Here are 5 questions to ask yourself before you turn that blog switch on.

Do you like to write?

I like writing, I find it relaxing and it helps me process thoughts. I admit, I’ve often struggled to find a balance to what is helpful for me but is still useful to my audience.

Just because you see me (or someone in your industry) intermittently pumping out the blog posts doesn’t mean you have to too. If you’d rather stick a fork in your eye rather than write, then don’t do it because chances are you’ll resent it and not end up doing it anyway.

Will a blog bring value to your audience?

It’s one thing to pump out the content, but is what you’re writing bringing value to your audience? How will it help them? Will they read it?

If your blog is just about news happening within your business then it’s probably best to drop it. Hard truth, no one really cares. OK maybe your mum. Make everything you post useful and informative. Occasionally throw something in light to mix it up but don’t make that your focus.

Can you think of loads of interesting things to talk about in your industry?

Do I have an endless supply of posts up my sleeve, hell no? My industry can be pretty dry, there is only so much I can talk about the various web design acronyms so I try to mix it up with a bit of business hints and tips. It’s applicable to the majority of my target audience and I enjoy doing it.

However, if your business sells nuts and bolts, I am not sure you could write a blog post every week about bolts, let alone be helpful to your audience. Then again perhaps you can! Try by sitting down with a piece of paper and write out some topic ideas. If you struggle to get to 10 topics then you might struggle to have ongoing ideas for your blog. I usually get my best ideas when I am out running or taking the dog for a walk.

Do you have time?

It’s time consuming, on average my blog posts take about an hour to write, sometimes more. Could that extra hour be spent elsewhere on your business? Would you be better off spending that hour you lost in revenue with some social media marketing, email marketing or paid advertising?

If you don’t have time, don’t pretend like you ever will. For a blog to be successful you need to be consistent and you also need to make sure what you are producing is good quality. Time poor people can do neither.

But… but… what about…?

What about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) I hear you say? Yes if you have more pages you’ll get more listings. Will they be relevant listings to what people are searching for? Not necessarily. Will it make you reach page number one on google? Probably not.

SEO is a whole other topic, for a whole other blog, BUT I’ve seen great success with people with page one results in google for some highly competitive terms, and guess what THEY DON’T HAVE A BLOG.

 

With so much stuff that we have to do these days, social media, email marketing, pounding the pavement to get new work, if blogging isn’t your strength then just don’t do it.

Do you have a blog for your business? Do you find it hard to manage? Leave a comment below!

5 thoughts on “Should your business website have a blog”

  1. Great post Nicki, I love that you may have helped peeps that haven’t been digging their blog to not blog. I completely agree, if its a chore, and not fun anymore you should spend you time doing what you love in your biz. Nice one!

    1. Totally, there’s enough stuff that we HAVE to do as biz owners that we don’t love *cough* accounting *cough* why add another thing to the list. Thanks for the comment!

  2. I avoided it like the plague to begin with, have been surprised by how much I enjoy it,I have a million ideas, and when I take the time i love to blog, its just last on my list of priorities, I avoided it like the plague to begin with, have been surprised by how much I enjoy it….

  3. popular design

    web design of your web-site is related to your business, and also you make friendly web design for client who can easily understand your business. this is nice blog..!

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