Should You Blog For Your Small Business?
You know blogging is great for SEO. After all, the Google monster loves content and rewards you handsomely for producing great stuff week after week. Blogging helps you get found on the Interwebs. It establishes your expertise and shows you're a “thought leader.” Blogging is great, right?
Have you ever asked yourself the question: “Should I be blogging for my small business?”
No matter how great blogging is for your SEO – it is not for everyone. There is nothing worse than going to a small business' site and finding a dead blog. You know – the blog that hasn't been updated for months and months and months. The blog that makes me sad and forces me to find another small business who actually cares enough to blog.
Yeah, you don't want to be that business.
Here are 4 questions to determine if you should blog for your business.
Question #1: Do you like to write?
I love writing. I wish I could write more. I have to admit the blank page scares the shit out of me and I procrastinate before starting. However, once I get writing, I love it. It's cool to see what I've created.
How about you? Do you love to write? If you hate writing, then blogging might not be for you.
Question #2: Do you have time to blog?
Full disclosure: It takes me about an hour to write a blog post. 60-minutes to pound out about 500 words, edit, find pictures and hopefully like what I wrote enough to schedule the post. In your business, do you have the time to blog? Is it a part of your marketing plan? It's great if you love to write, but if you don't have the time to do it – you'll find your small business blog buried in the graveyard.
Question #3: Is your business your passion?
I hope you say “abso-fricking-lutely!”. I want you to shout, “YES!” from your neighbor's roof (because you're that passionate you would scale their house). I love writing about public speaking, presentations, blogging, social media and any possible way we can get our stories into the world.
It's ok if you don't love it – if your business provides the seed money to pursue your passion, that's great. So don't blog about your business, blog about your passion.
Question#4: Do you have something to say?
Quick! Right now, write down 10 blog post ideas. You've got 5 minutes, I'll wait for you.
I'm waiting – listening to some really great old music, truth be told.
How did it go? Did 10 blog post topics just drip from your pen like you barely had to think about? Or did you get stuck?
The easier it is for you to come up with post topics, the more likely you can stick with blogging. Remember, blogging is a marathon not a sprint.
What to do if you answered, “NO” to 1 or more of these questions?
Don't blog.
“But Michelle, I want those SEO benefits. I want to be an expert,” you say. You can still get those benefits. Next week I'll walk you through some alternatives to blogging.
What say you? Should every small business have a blog? Or if you blog for your business what's your BIGGEST challenge?
