Guest post by Nick Stamoulis
The long and short answer-maybe. There are probably hundreds (if not thousands) of blog posts and articles telling you exactly why you need a blog and why you should have launched it 6 months ago. Most of those reasons make a lot of sense. Each blog post can rank in the search engines, increasing your online brand presence.
Blogs are a great place to connect with current and potential customers. Blogs help establish your company as an industry authority. Blogs provide create content to share on social networking site...the list of reasons to blog can go on and on.
So is a having a business blog ever a bad idea?
It depends on a few factors.
1. Time
If you don't have the time to routinely update a blog, it's not really worth launching. There is no "right" amount of content you should be writing for your blog and there isn't a one-size-fit-all answer. Large businesses with even larger staffs could be churning out three or four posts a day easy. Smaller, but dedicated firms could be shooting for one a day.
Bare minimum, you should be aiming for at least one well-thought out blog post a week. If keeps the blog fresh and gives readers and reason to come back.
If you can't commit the time to write at least one post a week, then don't bother launching the blog. A blog that is full of stale content reflects poorly on your site and your brand. If the information is no longer relevant, it could make your company look like it's lagging behind the times.
Keep in mind that blogging is long-term. A great blog doesn't happen overnight. You have to put in a lot of work and time before you start to reap the benefits of blogging.
2. Topic
The number one problem facing most companies when it comes to content marketing is coming up with new topics. We get stuck in a content rut and never quite pull ourselves out. A few days go by without inspiration, then a few more and sooner or later the blog is abandoned all together.
If you don't think your industry in interesting enough to spend the next few years writing about it, don't bother launching a blog. (And if you don't find your industry interesting, why on earth are you in business?) Desperate bloggers that can't come up with their own unique take on a subject sometimes resort to content "borrowing," just to get something written. The Internet is a big place, but not so big that plagiarism goes unnoticed for long.
3. Promotion
Even great content could use a little help getting some love from the search engines and readers alike. Creating great content is only one half of the content marketing battle; you've got to promote it! Every time a blog post goes live, it is up to you to position that post in front of your audience.
This includes submitting it to social bookmarking sites, social networking sites, including links in your company newsletter, making your blog shareable with plugins and more. "If you build it, they will come" doesn't work for blogging. You have to hustle and work to get your content noticed. If you don't think you'll be able to commit to a strong content promotion campaign, then you're only going to get half the value from your blog as you could be.
What else should business owners consider before starting a blog?
Nick Stamoulis is the President and Founder of Brick Marketing and Search Engine Journal. With over 12 years of experience Nick Stamoulis has worked with hundreds of companies small, large and every size in between. Through his vast and diverse SEO, search engine marketing and internet marketing experience Nick Stamoulis has successfully increased the ?online visibility and sales of clients in all industries.
Does Your Company Really Need A Business Blog? is a post from: We Blog Better. © 2011. Share it freely, but please link back to this source.
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