Should you blog?

Blogging has become very popular in the last few months and even the most non-technical of my clients are now talking about using a blog to promote their businesses. But, what exactly is a blog and should you set one up?

You’ll see lots of slight variations in what a blog is if you have a look, but I like to think of a blog (or a web-log) as an on-line diary, where you can record your thoughts, opinions and useful information. You can set one up for free using sites like www.blogger.com and getting started is fairly easy even if you’re not technically minded. Many people are also setting up blogs instead of a website too – you can’t blame them – it’s quick, free and you can add and change the content whenever you like!

Setting a blog up though is the easy part. Then you have to look after it. I updated my blog once a week, but many blogging experts would tell me that’s not enough. Ideally, you should be updating your blog three to four times as week. Granted your blogs don’t have to be long, but it’s still a time-consuming activity in your busy world.

And then there’s the problem of what to write about. I tend to get inspiration by talking to my clients and contacts and writing about something they’ve said that has interested me, but I have to admit that sometimes I sit there and think what should I write about this week? Having said that, if you write a newsletter or articles, there is absolutely no reason why you couldn’t post this on there. I also express my opinion about various things in the news or things that have annoyed me – being careful of course, not to betray confidentiality or give away any names!

The other consideration is whether you will get business from your blog. Well, you can certainly monitor whether or not it’s being read and where people have found out about your blog. But whether you’ll get business from it is another matter – what it does do is build your credibility as an expert within your field and give people an idea of what you’d be like to work with. People may very well decide to use your company as a result of seeing your blog – but don’t expect instant results.

Finally, you’ll also have to think about promoting your blog to make sure people actually see it – the blog will automatically be sent to search engines like Google, but often that’s not enough (as there are thousands of blogs out there). So, many people choose other ways to promote and tell people about their blog like adding their blog to their website and email signature and business cards to name, but a few.

So, should you blog? You should certainly consider it if you like writing and expressing your opinions and realise that a blog will help you establish your credibility rather than give you immediate customers. You also need to put it into your diary to update it on a regular basis so that you don’t forget – there’s nothing worse than a blog that has been set up 3 months ago and not updated since.

If, on the other hand, you hate writing; have no time to spare; and are not sure what to write about, I would say blogging is probably not for you and you should have a think about other methods to promote your business. Blogging should definitely be used in combination with other marketing methods and not in isolation.

Still not sure whether or not it’s for you…that’s fine. Go onto sites like www.blogger.com and have a look at some of the blogs that have been written – you can even search for blogs that are related to your industry. Don’t forget that you can post comments to blogs that interest you, so start doing this first. This will give you an excellent way to get your name out there and also decide whether or not blogging is for you.

Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) gives help and advice to established small businesses on their marketing and to people setting up in business.