Blog - The Horror Story
“But I don’t want to create a blog!!! I don’t have the time! I can’t think of anything to write about. I can’t blog every day! I don’t see how blogging will benefit my business. Blogs are old news.”
Why Blog? Blogging is valuable to a business in MANY ways! It allows readers/potential clients/current clients to learn more about you and your business. Blogging informs and educates the reader about your industry. It also creates you as an expert…or at minimum a “go to” person when someone desires to learn more about a subject matter. For B2B (business to business), it is imperative to use this tool for all the above benefits. And no….blogging is not dead.
When considering launching a blog many of my clients faces melt into one of dread and stress for the above reasons. So, let’s address these 5 objections in efforts to simplify blogging!
1. “I don’t have time!” This is the main reason most businesses are hesitant to blog. For the time consumption assuming it will take. Not so. With the current human attention span of less than 6 seconds (yes, we have finally reached the same attention span of a gold fish…) writing long involved blogs are a detriment. I direct my clients to write one paragraph blogs! That’s it! A blog post does not have to be a long dissertation. It will be more effective the shorter it is! Take a blog post that has the potential to be long and break it into 2 or 3 separate posts. There, you now have a few weeks’ worth of blogs! Another idea is Vlogging (video-blogging). Instead of writing about a subject, use a self-video! Current statistics show:
2. “I can’t think of anything to write.” The key to this objection is a little bit of preparation. When launching a blog the first thing to do is create a list of topics. I would start with
15-20. As you construct this list, threads will begin to ravel off giving you more ideas! Let’s say you are a furniture store. Your list of topics may include “what to look for in a sofa”. Threads that would begin to unravel may be: different style of sofas, how to choose a color, what size is right for your space or how to choose the best fabric/cover for your style. Once you begin the topic list, you will be surprised how many topics will flow!
3. “I can’t blog every day!” Good, you don’t have to! The key is consistency! Being consistent may be once a week. Perhaps you can include posts two times a week. My suggestion would be to strive for a minimum of twice a month. The best thing to do is create a calendar! Assign the day to post and get to it!
4. “I don’t see how blogging will benefit my business.” There is no doubt, it will Why? No matter what your business may be you have competitors. Blogging cements three valuable elements for your business; one, it gives insight into you and your business. As mentioned above, customers don’t want to know what you do or sell, they want to know about YOU. Blogging gives a customer a peek into your business on a more one-on-one level. Two, it develops you as an “expert” in your field. Both offer you an elevated position to your competitors. Three, it increases the traffic to your website which will in turn effect your SEO. (Search Engine Optimization). In other words, where you show up on Google when someone searches for your service or product organically. You can’t put a value on that!
5. “Blogging is old news.” Nope! Again if the only element that works in your favor is to increase traffic to your site, that effect search on Google. It makes your business easier to find!
Creating a blog doesn’t have to be time consuming and overwhelming. Start with these 5 steps and simplify your blog journey. Once you started, visit my post about the 5 “to-do’s” that will make your blog even more valuable to your business.
