Today I’m going to take on a few of the common reasons not to blog.
In my first job out of college I had a great boss. One of the reasons he was a great boss was because he constantly challenged my viewpoint. He never let me get away with assumptions. He always played the devil’s advocate and took the opposite side of the argument.
This constant challenging of viewpoints made me really take into consideration my own thoughts and challenge them. It made me consider all sides of any argument.
Let’s get started.
Common Reasons Not to Blog
There are likely many more reasons not to blog. If you have some ideas of why you or others in business shouldn’t blog please share them in the comments. I would love to hear what stops you from committing to a business blog.
No Time
This is the most common reason I hear from business owners regarding blogging. I’ll get into a conversation with a small business owner or even a marketing manager at a large company. They have read a little about blogging. They want to at least try to implement a strategy on some level, but they can’t find the time themselves to blog or they can’t give up their employees or other resources to commit to blogging.
It’s a reasonable argument not to blog. If your business needs to focus on the core competencies to pay the bills and make a living then blogging probably isn’t something you should focus on.
Refute: Growing businesses realize that business models change. Today you likely have a business model that allows you to acquire new customers. If this model is something you feel comfortable with for the long run then you’re probably set. But if you feel like the model may be threatened in the future for reasons unforeseen (or seen) then it becomes necessary to experiment with new customer acquisition models including blogging and content creation.
Boring Industry
Another reason business owners choose not to blog is because their industry is boring. I often use the example of the plumbing industry in my writing. There probably isn’t an industry more boring than the plumbing industry, but now that I think of it I’m sure there are some more. IT is not very glamorous or flashy.
If you feel your industry is not interesting then it’s probably best not to start a blog. Inspiration is a big part of blogging success and if there is no inspiration to write a blog then I wouldn’t recommend starting one because even if you did the chances are high that the blog would become dormant and abandoned within six months.
Refute: Now, if you feel your industry is boring let me just say that no industry is too boring. I’ve written for a variety of industries people haven’t even heard about before. It could be the plant and flower industry. It could be the IT and computer industry. It could be the software industry.
What I’ve found is that for every industry there are at least a number of people that love your industry. You might not have wide appeal, but if you can win over the hardcore people that love you industry you will find success with a blog.
No Proof
A good business executive will always ask for proof of blogging success. Blogging is still a relatively new method for acquiring customers. Business owners want proof of success. The truth is that most industries do not have examples of success. Bloggers, including blogging companies like mine, are still trying to prove to business owners that blogging is a viable long-term solution for customer acquisition.
Refute: There are industries with success stories. I try to cover a few of them here on the blog and I plan on covering more because it’s important to share the success stories of others. There are companies doing great things with business blogs and there is always something to learn from there success stories.
As I mentioned above, please share your other reasons not to blog. I’m interesting in learning the challenging points that make you choose not to blog. What are the barriers?