Does your business need a blog?

Everybody’s doing it. Everybody. Seriously, have you seen all the blogs out there? I’m not sure when the Doogie Howser diary went from private to public, but blogging is here to stay. So, should you take your business to the blogosphere?

First, to be clear, this is probably the wrong question to ask. A blog is one tool of many in the business leader’s arsenal for dynamic online interaction. I recently spoke about this at a CHAMPS LINKS lunch. The topic there was Facebook for Business, but the principle is the same. One of the things Black Lab does is help businesses with online and social networking strategies. We start from a strategic perspective, asking: “What am I trying to achieve with my online strategy?” and move on from there. But I get asked specifically about blogging a lot, so here are a few things to consider if you’re mulling the addition of ‘amateur journalist’ to your resume:

– Who is your audience? An internal (employees) blog will have a different style and tone than an external (customers, vendors, etc.) blog. Be mindful of who you’re talking to.

– What do you want to say? Do you want to be informative, spark discussion, market your work? There are many possibilities to choose from, but choose something. Having a theme or focus helps build an audience.

– Who will do the writing? There is nothing worse than slogging through something that is not well written. In fact, because there are so many options, you’ll loose readers with rampant misspellings and awkward sentences. That being said, blogs are much less formal so the tone can be casual and small mistakes are tolerated. Just don’t forget that a blog is part of your brand, so take it seriously.

– Can you post regularly? This is one I’ve struggled with lately. Things get busy, so something has to slide and the past few weeks it has been my blog. If you want to build a significant readership, daily posting is optimal. However, I see a noticeable uptick when I post just three days a week. This isn’t as hard as it might sound. Blog entries are generally short (I try to stay under 500 words) so the time investment is manageable.

One idea I’ve seen used successfully is the pre-opening blog. If, for example, you’re a retailer working on your store build-out then a blog is a good way to let people know how things are moving along — introduce them to your store and get them involved in your progress. A good one I’ve seen is Hill’s Kitchen. The owner used Facebook to make short entries as she prepped her store for almost a year. Peregrine Espresso has a blog with far more content than their actual web page. A blog is a free or low cost way to experiment with content before spending several thousand dollars on a comprehensive website.

So, do you need a blog? Maybe. Definitely don’t be intimidated by the idea. Think about your online strategy and what you want to accomplish and, if the situation warrants it, dive in!

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