Blogging is really starting to get attention in the business world.
At Ghost Blog Writers we’re telling people about the benefits of blogging.
Marketing agencies, SEO agencies and all kinds of agencies are singing the praises of blogging as well.
We’re saying that blogging can attract new visitors with fresh content. You can earn their trust with helpful information. You can improve your search engine rankings and you can do it all by creating content that you own as opposed to content that disappears almost instantly on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.
But is blogging all it’s cracked up to be?
The best business owners I’ve been around are the ones that question things. Since blogging is becoming mainstream I’m starting to see it questioned more.
There are some problems with business blogging that I see.
Problem #1 – Long-Term Approach
Businesses looking for fast success with blogging are going to be disappointed. We try to mitigate these false expectations right away with new clients especially those that are starting out with little to no online marketing efforts.
Blogging is about building an audience and it’s difficult to build an audience from scratch. I like to compare it to a country music singer. I’ve read interviews with singers when they talk about the time they put in to build an audience. They have create their songs and style. Then they have to play wherever they can play to start building their audience. It takes time.
Blogging is the same way. You build your original content, but then you have to tap into other audiences to start building your own. Google has an audience, but they need to see that you’re contributing great content that’s worthy of them sharing it with that audience.
You can email other bloggers with an audience. If they feel you have created something worthwhile they’ll share it with their audience and you’ll grow yours.
You can build your social following, but that can take time.
Blogging is a long-term approach, but it is paying off for businesses willing to invest in it. If you’re looking for fast response then advertising is the way to go. You’re paying for instant access to an audience, but it can be costly and the moment you stop paying the stream of inquiries stops.
With blogging you’re creating things that will always be there bringing in traffic. But it’s not for the impatient.
Problem #2 – No Time
This is a big one. I’ve come across many business owners that have started a blog. They’ve had big intentions and lots of ideas for the blog, but after a few weeks or maybe a few months the blog starts to get ignored. Eventually, the blog is left alone for good.
Business owners are busy and they often underestimate the time it takes to research, write and format a single blog post.
The typical story sees a business owner hear about blogging. They probably read blogs and think that it would be great if they had a blog for their business. They come up with a handful of great ideas for posts and they get started.
Soon, though, they see the time requirements it takes to work on the blog and that takes away from all the other things they have to do to keep the business moving forward.
It’s hard to fully commit to blogging, which is a pay it forward for your business type of task when there are more pressing issues to do like getting something ready for a current customer.
Blogging takes a lot of time. That’s a big problem with it. It’s harder to write a post than it is to share a quick quip on Twitter or Facebook.
Problem #3 – Not Everyone Reads Blogs
The final problem with business blogging that we’ll cover today is the simple fact that not everyone reads blogs.
There are a number of studies out there about how many people read blogs. It’s quite high, but it’s all relative. It can seem like everyone reads blogs depending on the stat you’re looking at, but those numbers are often quoted as being a percentage of all “web users”, which we know doesn’t include all consumers.
If your customer is over 50 years old or even over 35 years old the chances are that they don’t read a lot of blogs.
The other thing about these studies, though, is that they usually just ask people if they read blogs. I think some of the people that say no are actually reading blogs without realizing it. Blogs are a huge source of information online and some don’t look like the traditional personal journal-type blog that some people still think about when they hear the word “blog”.
A blogging strategy starts with an understanding of your customer. If they’re reading blogs then you have an opportunity, but there are other ways to attract your specific customer to and you have to focus on the best one if you want success.
Final Thoughts
Blogging is getting a lot of praise these days. If you’re hearing it from your agency that you need to be blogging then know that there are some potential problems with it.
It can be a great thing for your business, but go in with the right attitude otherwise you’ll be disappointed with how it might turn out.
Image: Sebastiaan ter Burg