Far too often, people create a blog for their business only to abandon it because it wasn’t what they had envisioned it to be. One of the most common complaint is, a low return on investment, the blog taking up a lot more time than they had to give. If you have not created the blog and are wondering if it is a wise move, take a look at these issues, understand them so that you enter this venture with your eyes wide open.
You Should Always Use Your Own Domain
This should be rather obvious, yet many people start business blogs on a Blogspot.com or even WordPress.com address. Bad move. Now, let’s get this straight. Blogger and WordPress.com are fabulous services. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with using them. However, if you do, please, spend $10 to register a domain for it. Your blog is a part of your brand. You should control it.
You Can’t “Set It And Forget It”
Just because there are automated tools that claim to be able to fill your blog with content or doesn’t mean you should use them. Oh and PLR – great stuff, but if it is the only thing you’ll ever publish, you might as well not build your blog.
You can use PLR. Just don’t lay it on so thick. People like blogs that have personality and great content so that human element has to come through. Pretty hard to achieve with only PLR. Update the blog with original, quality content regularly, promote it and take time to associate with your readers. There is work involved but on the other hand it can also pay back many times over. Check your expectations at the door, a blog is never ending.
Have A Focal Point
Whatever your topic is, there should be a focus. It is totally alright to break the rules a little here and there, post a little personal news on occasion, sometimes an off topic post is a welcome break, particularly if you can connect into the overall message of your topic. The problem arises when consistently post things that are all over the map. It is not compelling reason for anyone to follow you. Consider what is the focus, your reason, your theme. A wide theme is OK as long as people know what you’re all about. This also helps you in the long run, to develop content that satisfies your readers.
You Will Need To Promote It
It is confusing for some business owners because they figure, if I have to promote the blog, why not just skip a blog altogether and concentrate on promoting the web site? Great question. The fact of the matter is, content is a whole lot easier to sell. You are more likely to get someone to click and visit you when you offer them valuable information versus getting them to a page that tries to sell them something. By promoting your content, you are warming up your prospects to your products. This is a good demonstration of how to engage people.
There’s No Need To Stress Out Yourself Doing It Alone
By this time, you may be thinking if this blogging business is worth your time. It sure sounds like a ton of work in addition to your existing obligations. I’m not going to lie to you. It can be but the good news is, there’s no need for you to be the only one doing all the work. There are actually people out there whom you invite to contribute posts and they would be happy to. Find fellow business owners, especially those who have complimentary products and services. They would be able to gain extra exposure on your blog. By the way, a good place to find these people is at Blog Energizer. You can also invite your customers to contribute. They would be able to write good content that also doubles as testimonials.
Every project has challenges. Small business owners like you realize that owning our business can seem like a giant obstacle course. Yet, we would not trade it for a thing. Building a blog is a lot like that. If you understand and accept these facts and still look forward to getting started, you should know there is plenty of help out there … (ahem, like us).
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