We, the Blog Squad, have been clear: if you can't commit to writing short posts 2-3 times a week, and if you're not open to dialogue with your potential customers, then blogging might not be for you. Better not to start than to create a blog that has only a few articles posted, and lies dormant like an abandonned saloon in a ghost town. It can make your company - your professional services - look like the doors and windows are all broken and no one cares.
Here's some excerpts from a recent article published in the MarketingProfs Today newsletter worth reading:
Marketing Challenge: When It's Best NOT to Blog
by Meryl K. Evans and Hank Stroll
MarketingProfs Today Newsletter - excerpts
Blogging is ubiquitous. Marketing experts, the media and the influx of books on business blogging give the impression that we should all do it, or be thinking about doing it.
But should all businesses blog? Is it always a wise use of resources and an asset?
As with every business decision, a business needs to research the topic and decide whether a blog is worth its time and resources. The responses that follow provide clear guidelines on when not to blog.
Those without scruples, brainpower or writing abilities should refrain.
In their book on business blogging, Naked Conversations, Robert Scoble and Shel Israel say that bad guys like Saddam Hussein shouldn't blog. But Hussein's simply being a bad guy is not the only reason why they don't recommend he blog. They write, "Saddam has always been a command-and-control freak. He prefers monologue to dialogue even in face-to-face meetings."
The authors hit upon an important point. A person who wants to have a one-sided conversation and maintain control is most likely not going to succeed as a blogger.
Ted Demopoulos, co-author of the upcoming Blogging for Business, says, "Companies always have confidential information such as product plans, release dates, etc. Some people have trouble keeping anything secret, whether blogging or not. Such folks shouldn't blog."
Scoble and Israel also say the "dull" shouldn't blog simply because their blog will reflect that dullness. They make another good point — people who can't handle criticism will have a hard time as a blogger. The blogosphere is up-front and honest and has no trouble speaking its mind.
A blog won't be read if the writer can't get the message across clearly. Blog writing isn't like the writing many of us learned in school. While formal and stiff writing might work fine in a business environment, it'll scare away potential readers.
Blog readers smell marketing a mile away.
Debbie Weil, author of upcoming book, The Corporate Blogging Book, gives an excellent example of what not to do when blogging. Notice that she says one of the problems is that a blog can become "a mini press release." Treat an entire blog like one and count on few visitors and maybe even blogosphere backlash.
Blogging takes time.
In most cases, when a blog isn't regularly updated, it loses readers because they don't want to continuously check to see whether there's an updated entry. Many top-notch blogs are updated three times a week or more, so why clutter your blog reading list with an infrequent one? A business that can't make the commitment to three entries a week is a business that doesn't need a blog.
Hank Stroll and Meryl K. Evans Hank (Hank@InternetVIZ.com) is publisher at InternetVIZ, a custom publisher of 24 B2B e-newsletters reaching 490,000 business executives. Meryl (meryl@InternetVIZ.com) is the Content Maven behind meryl.net, helping companies increase business through simple words that make a big impact.
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