When Darren Rouse of Pro-Blogger posts, bloggers listen. So when I saw that he had post “Should I Change My Website Into a Blog” I felt compelled to share my experience.
Darren points out 6 reasos why you might want a blog and 5 reasons why you might not want a blog for your business. It’s a great post and I heartily recommend it to you.
Darren states that one reason you may not want to use a blog to promote your business is that blogs take time to mature. A HEARTY AMEN TO THAT!!!! Nothing frustrates me more than to have a blogging client contact me 6 weeks after the launch of their blog and complain that they aren’t ranked #1 on a highly competitive search term which they haven’t used ONCE in any of their 6 posts. However, it takes time for ANY web presence to “mature”… even traditional ones which are launched with all their content “in tact” and ready to roll.
Darren also recommends blogging daily. If your blog is the foundation of your business, then by all means, you’ll be posting at LEAST once daily to generate the kind of content you need to generate. If you want to blog for blogging’s sake… then think of it as launching your own independent newspaper. Fresh content and breaking news are truly king.
However, most of my clients don’t aspire to full time blogging. My clients want a powerful marketing tool they can use to promote their business.
I’ve played it both ways. I had a “conventional” web site parked here for YEARS!!! When my web site was “just a web site”, when a potential client would contact me, the conversations would begin with “so and so says you’re wonderful.” After launching the blog, my phone began to right with people saying, “I read your post on [insert topic here] and I thought you might be able to help me. I can’t say I ever had ANYONE who wasn’t a referral contact me without an article being picked up by a newsletter prior to launching the blog.
Darren is MUCH more “balanced” on this issue than I am. Read his 23 Questions for Prospective Bloggers… despite earning a comfortable income from his blog, he still doesn’t think it’s for everyone.
However, Darren blog is his business. My clients are encouraged to see their blogs as COMMUNICATION TOOLS for their businesses.
My favorite word picture is as follows and I use it with clients who have a web site they love and they are considering whether to add a blog. Read that post here: Using Your Blog to go Fishing (warning, it’s targeting authors, but it works for any business!)
The blog idea can be confusing and many get tripped up by the wordage. A blog and web site do not have to be separate. I have a blog as a part of my web site. I don’t think it has to be either or. Also I bet a lot of business people would have no trouble writing a column for a magazine to promote their business or to give advice, etc. but call it a “blog” and the give you a blank look.
linkerjpatrick’s last blog post..The branding aspect of marketing
Patrick, you’re SO right. It doesn’t have to be an “either or”…. as a matter of fact, most blogs have the ability to feature “static” content outside the blog heirarchy… which really blurs the distinction between the two.
However, I have had conversations with developers who are comfortable coding in HTML and who don’t want to “transition” to Web 2.0. Some code in HTML… others in Flash… but few want to dip their toe into the murky waters of Web 2.0. I recently had a client who was told by just such a web developer that when she was ready to get “serious” about her business, she would drop the blog and hire them to create her static web presence.
That’s why I tell clients that blogs are merely a different way of creating a web presence. They are purely a CMS (Content Management System)… and that the real magic in any blog is the content!