Should I Start My Own Blog? – Top Reasons To Do It Or Not Do It!
If you have an existing business or are opening a business, you may be asking yourself whether or not you should start a blog. Blogging has taken the world by storm. Many of us have read blogs, posted on blogs and even started blogs.
You will find many people that say: YES, you must start a blog. You will find just as many people that say: NO, skip the blog. We will take the load less traveled and say the answer is a giant MAYBE.
1) Reasons to Blog
A blog is a great way to communicate directly with your audience. It personalizes a business and can create consumer confidence and loyalty. If you provide valuable information on the blog your efforts will generally be rewarded.
Having a blog can give you an additional revenue stream if you add advertisements to it. Of course you will want the ads to be relevant so your readers are not turned off.
The biggest reason to have a blog is it is an effective way to communicate to your target audience and hear from them. You can learn about your company’s strengths and weaknesses. If you address them both openly and honestly you can build consumer confidence and loyalty.
A blog can be a powerful communication tool if used properly.
2) Reasons Not to blog
If you are not prepared to devote a few hours per week to blogging, do not do it. A blog needs to get updated at least every 1 to 2 days to be effective and have value. Consumers will be unimpressed with a blog that is infrequently updated and you can damage your reputation with a poorly done blog. Make sure you are ready for committing to a blog.
If you are not a strong communicator, you may want to stay away from a blog. You need to consider the quality and nature of your blog posts and your reactions to other people who post on your blog.
3) Things to Keep in Mind when Blogging
In the end you need to decide whether or not you want to start a blog for your business. If you do start one here are some things to keep in mind:
Do not take it personally. If people have nasty comments or disagree with you, never take it personally. Respond in a professional way. If they post anything inappropriate on the blog you have the power to remove it.
Allow people to post negative comments and respond to them. A well-written response to a complaint about your business will have more value than 50 compliments about your business.
Make sure there are SPAM guards on your blog to prevent the porn sites, gambling sites and other SPAM sites from posting links from your blog.
Require people to register to post on your blog. This gives you contact information and will have some of the anonymous “flamers” (people who post nasty, inflammatory comments) from using your blog.
Give the blog time to get traction. You will not have an instant following, it takes time. Make sure people know about your blog and invite them to read it.