I’ve been blogging since December 2009. That’s a long time. And I will admit there were a couple of patches where I didn’t write much because my business and life took over. At the time when I started, blogging was all the rage. It was “THE” thing to do for branding. Now, I still believe blogging is an important piece of your marketing puzzle and if you’re asking yourself if the time is right for you to start a blog read on…

Yes, a blog helps you interact with your customers and brands you as an expert in your niche. Business blogs also draw more web traffic to your site. But are there any reasons why you might not want to have a business blog? There are, and you should consider these before you get started.

Regular Posting and Maintenance

Running a business blog takes time. At a very minimum, you need to be posting once a week, and more if possible. For many people, writing even a short blog post can be an arduous task. Consistency is key and if you’re not able to keep it up, this could be a problem.

If you don’t have time yourself, delegating and outsourcing are options. However, if you run your own business, delegating the task to someone else is often out of the question. Outsourcing can work, but it’s a whole job unto itself, especially if you’ve never done it before. It also costs money.

Too Busy to Get Started

Before you start blogging, you have to invest some time in making a plan for your blog. You need to create your blog or a blog page on your website. Without the proper planning and set-up, your blog could become an aimless waste of your time. If you don’t have the time to get it started, this is another good reason to wait until you do.

No Focus

There are some compelling reasons to start a business blog, but if after reading them you still find yourself wondering why you should bother, this is a sign that maybe you shouldn’t. Your business blog needs to have a clear goal in mind in order to keep it focused. If it doesn’t, it’ll be all over the place and could actually harm your image by making you look confused and scattered.

Your Customers Aren’t Online

Finally, a blog on your site may not be useful to your target market. Especially if the demographic you target is elderly, conservative or rural, you may find little response to your blog. If they don’t spend time online or use smartphones, it could be a wasted effort. You might be better off investing the time and energy into offline marketing that will reach them more easily.

A Trial Run

One way to find out for sure if blogging is right for your business is to simply start one. Give it a trial run and you can see for yourself how it feels and whether or not there is any response to it. If you decide to delegate or outsource your blogging, a few weeks of doing it yourself is a great help. It teaches you exactly what’s involved and allows you to better train the people who will be doing the blogging for you.

Another one of those things that makes you go hmmm…

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Have a fabulous day!