As published in Nine MSN's Money, Flying Solo and South Africa's Your Business magazine.
There are loads of articles telling you why you should blog. Tonnes, even.But to objectively decide whether you should or shouldn’t do something, can you afford to ignore the shouldn’t’s?
1. You expect overnight results
Generally quicker than traditional marketing methods, blogging is still a slow and steady process, very much dependant on how much thought and effort you contribute.
Before expecting any results, work through the reasons why you’re blogging, and what it is you want to achieve. Only then can you start expecting and measuring your results. Without clarity of purpose, your blog will most likely deliver less than desirable results.
2. You’ll only blog when an idea hits you
Blogging is another marketing tool, and should be treated as such. If you only blog sporadically about whatever pops into your mind, your blog will be ineffective.
Make a plan. Brainstorm your post ideas, revise them, and then arrange them in chronological order. Then work out a posting schedule, and stick to it.
Do this every 6-8 weeks, allowing for breaking news posts. This way you won’t ever be stumped on what to blog about (increasing the quality of your posts) and your readers can spot your blogging patterns, so will be more likely to return.
Keep a little journal or file to jot down your great post ideas in the interim.
3. You’re a really bad writer
You’re full of wonderful blog post ideas, but you know you are a terrible writer. Unfortunately, no matter how practical and valuable your ideas, if you cannot write coherently, you shouldn’t blog.
Paying someone who can write to blog for you is an expensive exercise. More importantly, the essence of you simply cannot be portrayed in the same manner.
Bite the bullet and learn! Learning to write well will benefit many areas of your business, not just your blog.
4. You don’t read or comment on other people’s blogs
Reading and commenting on other people’s blogs is a great way to: attract new readers, build your brand, learn, and find inspiration.
Make sure you include this step in your blog plan. Keeping your blog goals in mind, read and comment on selected blogs that will help you achieve your goals. If your goal is to attract new clients, then comment on blogs where you know your target market hang out.
Don’t forget to include a link to your blog in your signature.
5. You’re a fence-sitter
Boring. You won’t solicit many comments - or readers, for that matter.
Readers look for decisive, powerful, posts. Whilst this does not mean each and every post must be a controversial, shock-value rant, it does mean that you take a substantiated stand. Readers don’t have to agree with you; they have to be confident you know what you’re on about.
6. You’re going to remove comments you don’t like/agree with
We cannot please everyone. There’s always going to be that someone who doesn’t like/agree with us. Unless the post is blasphemous or insulting, leave it.
Do, however, respond with your own comment. This shows that you care about your reader’s thoughts and are willing to engage. This is one of the most valuable opportunities to showcase your client service acumen.
7. You’re blogging because everyone else is blogging
Your competition is blogging, and it’s all over the media, so you think you should blog, too. Perhaps - but is this a good enough reason? How successful will your blog really be if this is the only reason you’re blogging?
Again, it comes down to your blog plan. If you honestly cannot see value in blogging or you don’t have clarity of purpose, then you shouldn’t blog.
Why else shouldn’t you blog? What elements of a blog scream ‘I don’t really care?’, turning you away?
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