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Don’t just start a blog
It’s a waste of time to run out to TypePad or Blogger and start a business blog
You know, I assume you’re intelligent. You started your service business or retail shop or what have you because you had passion, courage and enough hard cold investment dollars to launch the enterprise. And, it’s not easy street.
Real world business owners know they have several other things to think about on a day-to-day basis than spending precious time on blogging. Decisions about hiring qualified workers, where to concentrate scarce marketing resources and keeping customers satisfied while managing operations all crowd the owner’s mind space. Yet, we are being bombarded daily with urgent calls from blogging gurus, software creators and media elites all selling the notion that entrepreneurial fame and fortune is merely a matter of writing blog entries. Forget it.
Before you blog, you need a professional website
Not that blogging, per se, is bad. It’s just that everything has its place. For instance, right now you have a potential customer somewhere who is using the Internet to find the product or service you sell. In fact, these days probably all your customers go online to find or check out what you have to offer. No website? Why not just relocate to Outer Mongolia? Rent’s much cheaper there.
Oh, you do have a site? And, it’s a blog. Great! Now, the potential customer can find you. But, research has shown that you have just seconds after the visitor lands on your page to demonstrate you have what they’re looking for. So, what does a customer see when they get to your blog site? Hopefully, not musings about pottery manufacturing during the Han Dynasty. Remember, just 3 seconds and, ‘poof!’ they’re gone. See? A blog alone, by its very nature, isn’t designed to sell stuff very well.
USA Today’s excellent article, “Small Businesses embrace Web marketing,” by Priyanka Dayal starts out, “Some small-business owners are successful without help from the Internet. But as Web presence increasingly becomes a measure of credibility, the advantages and growing ease of creating a business website are prompting more holdouts to make the leap.” Holdouts? Apparently: A Gallup poll taken in 2005 showed that half of all businesses still had no website. Whew!
Today, we know that a professional business website provides:
- The bedrock imperative essential for business credibility in 2007
- A powerful marketing and business development machine
- A place where customers can visit your virtual office, store or facility
- A customer service agent that remains open 24 hours a day
- A level playing field within the universe of competitors large or small
- Technology to accept orders, dispense information, or provide services
Moral? First, your business needs to exist online. Now, that takes a website. If you’re not there yet, you need to get started. More than that though, your Web presence needs to have a professional look and feel to be taken seriously. Tim Knox, writing in Entrepreneur Magazine (Why You Need a Website) says, “Since many consumers now search for information online prior to making a purchase at a brick-and-mortar store, your site may be the first chance you have at making a good impression on a potential buyer. If your site looks like it was designed by a barrel of colorblind monkeys, your chance at making a good first impression will be lost.” Exactly.
Your website IS a direct reflection of your business in many respects. Does that site adequately represent your reputation and experience? Should you rely on a $15 a month blog template do the job for you?
Incorporate your blog into your business website
On the other hand, there is overwhelming evidence that business blogs materially improve an existing business website’s ability to communicate with, engage and inform the organization’s customers. In fact, it’s my strong opinion that all business websites will incorporate a blog within 5 years. So, if you’re a business manager looking for ways to leverage your existing website to better serve your marketing objectives consider these facts:
- A blog that discusses your business, avocation or industry substantially enhances your professional reputation and credibility and gives your website real authority and weight.
- Your blog should encourage the kind of feedback and commentary that only a great customer and employee communications strategy can make happen. This kind of blog provides invaluable insight and opportunities that place your firm at the cutting edge of your industry.
- Blogs put forth a positive message about your company that increases goodwill and brand awareness for your products and services. Blogs can substantially assist your firm’s marketing efforts stimulating the ‘buzz’ that’s so fundamental to successful viral marketing campaigns.
- Active blogs supply tons of relevant content, as well as, links from other bloggers, of the sort that attracts major search engine attention and materially contributes to higher rankings for your primary website. Blogs nested inside a business website are like a rocket blasting the site towards the top of results pages.
So, website or blog? First one, then both.
If you’re a commentator on current events, the war in Iraq, or hip hop music, by all means run to TypePad or Blogger and start your blog. If you’ve got a business to manage profitably, anchor your success on the Internet with a professional website. And then use your website to blog.
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