Should Your Business Have a Blog?

[vangogh]

Some of you will remember Khalid who used to post at the old forum. (Khalid, Khalid, where are you? Why haven't you joined us here on the new and improved forum?) Anyway Khalid just published an interesting post, provocatively titled, Most Business SHOULD NOT Blog (http://www.invesp.com/blog/blogging/most-business-should-not-blog.html). The argument being that blogging as not easy and most businesses aren't good at it.

While I agree that blogging is hard, I disagree that the conclusion is your business shouldn't blog. I think most businesses would do well to have a blog, assuming their willing to do it right.

What I see a lot is people thinking just having a blog will lead to success. Those people give little to their blog and consequently their blog gives little back to them.

If your blog isn't succeeding it's less likely the blog that's the problem and more likely you not understanding blogging that's the problem. Some of you might be thinking there's nothing your business could blog about, but I'd be willing to bet in less than 5 minutes I can come up with an idea and angle for your blog that could work.

But Khalid is right about blogging not being easy. Most people probably shouldn't blog. Most businesses should. We talk about it in the copywriting forum how most would do well to hire a professional and I think the same applies to blogging.

Done well a blog offers a lot of benefit to your business.

What do you think? Am I crazy? Is Khalid? Should businesses have blogs or should they avoid having one?

[khalid]

here I am :)

I keep on wanting to come back and visit and work keeps me away. wow, the forum looks so much better! Small business forum is the first forum I actively participated in.

Blogging can be very rewarding only if it is done correctly. A good number of our own prospects and leads come to us through our blog. But like you mentioned, most business do not understand the amount of work it takes to run a successful blog.

[orion_joel]

I really can see the potential of having a blog for a business. But i do agree with you, it is not easy. If done right, it needs to be decent quality writing on a related subject, and be consistent.

And for a business looking to build a reasonable following from creating a blog consistency is possibly the most important. If you start out posting a blog every week, but then in 3 months time fall back to only monthly, or haphazardly whenever you feel like it, potential to have customers lose faith.

Conversely if you deviate from the main focus of your business as the topic to much there is potential to lose business as well.

[vangogh]

Funny Khalid. I knew I would draw you out with my comments. Something told me you'd follow the link trail, see what I wrote and join. Is that forum bait? I understand being busy so no worries. It was an obvious attempt on my part to draw you out.

A few years ago where there weren't so many blogs online maybe all you needed to do was set one up and give it some effort, but the competition is much greater now. You do need to blog well to blog effectively.

Still I think any business can profit from having a blog. But it does have to be done well or at least well enough given whatever competition there is in your industry.

[Patrysha]

Well here's my take on it as a generalist.

The needs of a business blogger are somewhat different for those whose business is blogging. There is a lot that a small business owner (specifically those with a local target market which is what I specialize in) can typically ignore about general internet marketing as long as they're willing and able to learn (or learn how to hire someone competent) to blog for them.

Should every business have a blog? No.

Should every business have a web presence? Absolutely.

It's not that difficult to establish oneself through social media in a small geographic area, especially when combined with offline methods of contact.

A blog doesn't have to be perfect as long as it contains information the customers want to hear in a way they can understand it. This may require outside assistance in some cases, but well worth the investment in terms of return on investment.

The thing about local businesses is they already have an audience in a certain percentage of their current client base (what that percentage is varies by business, of course) they don't need a lot of fancy tactics to bring in tons of traffic...there's only a very small slice of overall internet traffic that they are after. A blog, as a component of a marketing plan.

[vangogh]

The needs of a business blogger are somewhat different for those whose business is blogging.

Absolutely agree. They are two different types of blogs.

Maybe I shouldn't say every business should have a blog, but for most every business I can think of, I an think of ways a blog could help that business. Again the blog has to be done well. Having a blog by default is no automatic guarantee of success. I just can't think of a case where a well done blog wouldn't add something to the business.


The thing about local businesses is they already have an audience in a certain percentage of their current client base (what that percentage is varies by business, of course) they don't need a lot of fancy tactics to bring in tons of traffic...there's only a very small slice of overall internet traffic that they are after. A blog, as a component of a marketing plan.

The idea that a blog won't help local business is one I disagree with. To me a blog isn't just about pulling traffic. A blog can help you build a relationship with your existing customers and help convince others to become customers. That has nothing to do with where they live or the area you serve. Think in terms of your blog being able to turn customers into loyal customers.

Even when it comes to traffic for a local business I think a blog can help. Your clients may be local, but traffic outside your area can still benefit your business. Visitors from across the country might know people in your area. They might link to you, improving where your site ranks for local searches. They might even come up with ideas to improve your business.

I think when you look at a blog and see it only as a way to bring in more traffic over a greater reach it misses some of the advantages of blogging.

[Patrysha]

Oh I agree almost any business can benefit from a blog and I agree it's about servicing clients for the most part (though the other benefits you mention are true too)

What I meant was...they don't necessarily have to follow the regular blogger rules as much ie they might not need to blog 3x a week and may be able to get away with once a week or every second week depending on their turnover rate and sales cycle.

I wasn't saying they won't benefit from a well thought out (and hopefully well written blog) just that they don't have to get into the nitty gritty details that a "professional" blogger does to get noticed initially...and that using offline techniques to build traffic is often easier and more effective for them in getting targeted traffic.

[vangogh]

Oh, got it. My bad on the interpretation. I guess we actually agree then.

It's funny, because the more I blog the less I think there are hard and fast rules for what makes a good blog.

[KristineS]

I think a blog can be a big benefit in building relationships with customers. It allows the company to be more human, and a blog can be a terrific way to have discussions with customers.

I would have to agree with Khalid that there are a lot of businesses that probably shouldn't blog. A bad blog can be worse than no blog at all. Also, a blog that is simply a propaganda organ will most likely do more damage than good. If you genuinely have something to say, and you can say it in a well written and reasonably interesting way, then by all means have a blog. If you can't do those things, than just have a static site.

As Vangogh qualified in his first post on this thread, any business can have a blog and be successful at it, if they are willing to do it right. The problem is that a lot of people aren't willing to do it right or to spend the time and energy necessary to get a blog going and to keep it going, and so their blogs fail and then they blame blogging and not their own efforts.

I think what needs to happen is there needs to be a realistic assessment of what it takes to have a successful blog, for a given value of successful. For some people success would be lots of readers, for others it would be forming connections with customers, for some it would simply be getting their message out. If you could see what it would take to accomplish your goal before you started, more blogs might stick around for the long term.

[SimplyBRG]

Some of you might be thinking there's nothing your business could blog about, but I'd be willing to bet in less than 5 minutes I can come up with an idea and angle for your blog that could work.


I am going to take you up on your bet. As I think you know, I have two businesses: SimplyBRG.com and my law firm. I can see how blogging would benefit my online referral business but I am not so sure blogging would work well for my law firm. My practice is about 70% plaintiff's personal injury, 20% employment law, and 10% criminal law. I can't really blog about current cases due to attorney-client privilages. I suspect most people don't care to learn about minor changes in the law or developing trends in litigation. I don't really know what I could blog about that potential or existing clients would care to read.

Okay, you got 5 minutes . . . GO!

[vangogh]

Ok. You can't blog about current cases, but I would think you could still talk about a case in the abstract as long as you stay clear of any identifying details. Of course you could always talk about cases you aren't personally involved in. We all hear stories of people suing companies that maybe seem frivolous. Take the case a number of years ago when the woman sued McoDonald's after spilling coffee in her lap while driving. Most people saw that as ridiculous. A cousin of mine happens to be a personal injury lawyer and he explained that was more to the case like McDonalds having been sued before and order to make sure their coffee wasn't so hot.

Your average American would probably love to know some of the details of these cases and they could be told as a story to keep them interesting, with the legal details mixed in.

The average person is lost when it comes to the law and their legal rights. You deal with personal injury so you can write posts about an individual's rights when something happens.

If I'm in a car accident what are my legal rights?
If I'm hurt at work what are my legal rights?
If I slip on the ice in front of an establishment what are my rights?

Most of us have no clue so educate people about what rights they have.

Other posts ideas:

How to find a good attorney
What should you expect from an attorney
How to make sure you get the best deal on your case
Should you negotiate a settlement or go to trial

In the 40 or so years I've been watching tv, three types of dramas have always played well with the American public. Shows about doctors, shows about cops, and shows about lawyers. People are interested in legal stuff. Explain some of it to them and use cases as examples. They don't have to be your cases.

How does this benefit you. It helps you be seen as an expert. It's proof that you know what you're doing and can win my case. While most people are fascinated with legal stuff most people have a mistrust of lawyers. We assume you're not so much interested in us as you are with our wallets. I think personal injury lawyers are trusted even less than most. A blog will put a real voice on your site and your business and go a long way toward establishing trust. If someone reads your blog regularly and finds themselves in an accident who do you think they'll call.

Also if you're educating people about their rights and where they can collect you're helping people realize when they might have a case and to seek legal advice in the first place. And again if it's you that taught them all that it's you they'll likely seek to handle their case.

I think my 5 minutes are up. How was that?

[SimplyBRG]

Wonderful. What do I owe you for losing the bet? Those were good ideas and I think I might give blogging a try.

Do you think I should set up a seperate domain for my blog? Something like Washington Injury Law Blog Posts (http://www.WashingtonInjuryLawBlog.com?) Or should I use my domain for my current website and just add a blog?

[vangogh]

Glad I could help generate some ideas.

Keep in mind that blogging isn't easy. It takes work to get it right and there's a good chance no one will be paying attention for a few months.

I think it's better to host your own blog on your domain. I prefer domain.com/blog Having the content on your own site helps lift your entire site in search results. You lose a lot of the benefit if you move the blog offsite. You can title the blog anything you want though, so you could still call it Washington Injury Law Blog, but I would keep it on your domain.

I recommend WordPress as blogging software too. It's pretty easy to install. Depending on what kind of hosting you have there may be an autoinstaller included. It might only take a couple minutes to fill in a form with an email address and a couple of clicks to have the blog. Even the manual install doesn't take too long. There are lots of free and paid themes, though you're best bet will be to have a custom theme coded to match the look of your site.

WordPress can actually be set up to power your non-blog pages too. My whole site runs on WordPress and many of the sites I've built lately are completely run on WordPress. Many don't even include a blog.

[Dan Furman]

nevrmind - I just see VG posted many of the same things I was just about to write.

But let me say that I think law is one of the better things you can blog about. There's so much you can tell people (what to expect, comment on well know cases, etc etc etc.)

[vangogh]

Ha ha, beat you to the post.

I agree with law being a good topic. There so much material and it's something most of us have questions about. If you read a newspaper once a week you'll probably have enough topic ideas for a month.