Writing and posting a regular business blog is seen by many as an efficient and cost effective way to promote your business expertise and your business brand. It is also now seen as an integral element of a necessary social media strategy, one that businesses that continue to ignore embracing, do so at their own peril.
Whilst it may be correct to say that doing it yourself is an efficient and cost effective means of blogging, this statement relates to an ideal world, and the reality will be far from this for most business owners, who will generally be far from efficient and effective at this multi-faceted task.
Unless you possess a fantastic skill set, have a great handle on the language and its nuances, can find the time and the clear headspace to do the writing task properly, and you can then be disciplined enough to publish and promote your blog on a consistent and regular cycle, I would suggest you save yourself a lot of pain, and look at your alternatives.
As a first time blogger, with no previous experience at all of blogging, twittering, and face booking (if that is the right term), it has been a tough ongoing assignment for me to establish a blogging platform, choose topics to blog about, write and edit same, publish and promote each blog, and monitor the statistics to see who was reading them, where the readers are located, and how they accessed each blog.
Having said that, this article is the twenty-fifth consecutive, weekly business blog, that I have authored and posted to the "Unique Insights" Blog Site, and it will be the last for this year. Along this short journey, the Blog Site was awarded a Top 100 Business Blog Award, and it is now consistently read by business owners in over 35 countries, each week.
My experience over this last six months, tells me that the discipline required, the brain power necessary, the creativity that needed to be found, the understanding of audience needs that must be developed, as well as the ability to continually maintain a high level of enthusiasm, will mount a serious challenge to most business owners wanting to do it all themselves.
As a management consultant, I felt it was necessary for me to experience exactly what a business owning client would go through, if I was to recommend to them, that they promote themselves and their business, via a blog that they needed to write and publish themselves. This was the driver that sustained me through my first six months of blogging, and without this driver, it would have been difficult to maintain the momentum.
Following my own personal experience, my recommendation to any business owner thinking of doing it themselves, would be to outsource the majority of the heavy lifting that is involved, and just play the key roles of idea generator and final editor.
However, before embarking down this path, I would strongly suggest all business owners need to be absolutely clear on what outcomes they expect to achieve from blogging, at what cost, and by when, so that they can adequately brief anyone they engage, and have a way of measuring return on investment, so that they can stop the activity if it is not delivering to expectations.
Will I continue blogging, yes I will, as I have now gone through the pain of acquiring the required skills and have caught the bug. However, commencing with this article, and for all future articles, I will be posting via e-mail through Posterous (which I have just discovered and recommend anyone just starting out blogging should investigate) to my own domain, rather than via Blogger at the Blogspot domain.
Will your business have a social media strategy in place for 2010?
Will a blog site be part of your social media strategy if you adopt one?
Will you outsource the heavy lifting and stay focussed on areas where your strengths lie?
As this is my last article for 2009, I would like to wish all of my subscribers and casual readers, a happy festive season and a happy, healthy and prosperous year in 2010.
4 comments:
Hi Daniel,
A great post and congratulations on your achievement. The only thing that has always amazed me more than the fact that many businesses still don't adequately understand the benefit of social media is that business gurus keep on suggesting business owners should do their own blogging rather than hiring a professional blogger to help them with the process. As if a guy who operates the finest bagel shop in Brooklyn or the best software company in Seattle should also be capable of being the most prolific writer on the subject. Not to mention an expert on SEO and social marketing to make sure their blog gets read. As a veteran of the newspaper business for over 10 years and a blogger since 2005, I've spent my time helping entrepreneurs express their vision and promote their work. People use the word outsourcing but I prefer the term partnering. Bloggers should be part of your team and can be a valuable part at that.
I feel a little tardy, having just come to your blog at this closing milestone.
(but "better late than never" applies to the Internet too.)
Although I've just begun my professional blog, I established it help fellow Architects learn to blog about their particular practices.
Your final three questions are perfect for any business person attempting to follow in your blogging footsteps.
While it's true that most business owners don't have the where-with-all for blogging. they also don't seem willing to pay someone to do it for them. It's not going to happen by magic, that's for sure. So with time or money, to get in the SMM game, they have to pay one way or the other!
Gene Sower
http://www.samsonmedia.net
This a wonderful commentary about your experiences and expectations of blogging. I think all business owners who are considering or indeed should be considering blogging would be well advised to read this post. I found this on bizsugar. Thanks for sharing. Regards, Niall
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