The one constant in life is change.
For the most part people don’t really like change. We try to avoid it.
We spend a lot of time investing effort into making life happen the way we foresee, but change is always right there waiting to throw us off track. It’s the one thing in life that’s consistent and we really have no control over it at all.
A recent article in Fast Company discussed the way change can impact a business.
From How Evernote Rethought Their Service, And Invented a Food Diary:
“We’re trying to make this transition from having Evernote be this unstructured repository of all your thoughts and memories,” says Phil Libin, CEO. “We want to go from that to having some structure and intelligence around important things.” This evolution is being directed in large part by the way mobile has changed software.
It’s amazing how a successful product was changed into something different. The folks at Evernote never really had the idea to create a food diary. They had a vague idea to create an application that allowed people to organize and remember things. That was the concept.
I’m sure as the team looks back on that original idea they notice the way their vision has changed. They’re now making food diaries and have a few other services in the pipeline.
Blogging follows much the same path.
You can start with one idea and find yourself a year down the road and realize how things have changed.
The Evolution of a Company Blog
In business and in blogging, change is good.
A barrier to entry I see with new company bloggers is the fact that they believe they aren’t good enough to write great blog posts right now. Blogging is just like everything else. You probably aren’t as good as you’ll be when you first start out.
The feeling of knowing you aren’t as good as you could be right now is something that scares people. We’re afraid of failing and falling down a few times. We worry about what other people will think and instead of using failure to build experience we simply never start.
It happens with blogging all the time. People worry about starting and not doing their best.
The truth is that your company blog will change over time. The trick is to actually get started. You need to have a starting point for your blog. You can write great posts right now from the very beginning. I’ve seen many people write great posts the first time out.
The great thing about it is they get even better the more they write.
Blogging is an evolution.
As you write, you learn what your audience wants. Your blogging strategy changes and your blog takes on new directions.
This is what happened at Evernote. The leaders in the company created a great product. They were willing to get started and try things out with their target audience. The initial product and every version since has been useful and great.
Now, after seeing how their audience demanded change, Evernote is offering more customized and personal apps like Evernote Food. This is the company’s way of changing and evolving to provide something with even more value.
The process of evolution happens with all successful businesses and successful people.
It also happens with successful blogs.
Writers get better.
The blogging strategy gets better.
Change is good.
You just have to get started right now.
Black and White Car image courtesy of Bob Jagendorf