There are so many brilliant reasons to have a business blog. It can open a conversation with your clients, attract the attention of new leads, demonstrate that you know your stuff, and perfectly express the personality of your brand.
Hands up, I love to blog. I’ve blogged for over a decade now as an author, a scriptwriter, and a copywriter. I’ve blogged for myself, as a guest, and for clients too. I’m never happier than when I’m working on a new bloggish offering.
But I know that not everyone shares my enthusiasm. Maintaining a blog demands commitment, inspiration, and time. More than that, it asks that you and your brand step out into the online world and make yourselves known. That can be a scary prospect in itself.
Let’s look at the three main fears that might hold you back from starting on that business blog:
Fear 1: It’ll take too much time
Admittedly, running a blog for your business does take time. There’s the writing, sourcing graphics, and sharing on social media, to name but a few elements of the process. When you’re already busy, you may begin to wonder how you can possibly fit anything more into your working week.
The answer? Schedule a regular slot to write your blog posts for the following week, fortnight, or even month. Treat that slot with the same respect and importance as any other appointment in your diary.
Of course, I’m more than happy to write your blog posts for you and talk over the type of topics your audience are interested in.
Fear 2: Thinking up ideas to blog about
If you worry that you won’t be able to think up sufficient ideas to blog about every month, then there’s an easy answer: look to your audience. What problems do they have that you could solve? What questions do they ask you on a regular basis? What is changing in their world that your business can help with?
Other ideas for blog posts include:
- sharing books and resources that your audience would find helpful
- sharing updates to your business, such as a new service you offer, a move to new premises, or when you’ll be closed over the holidays
- your take on current affairs and developments in your industry
- your achievements and success stories
- how you’ve helped other clients
One easy way to make sure you have plenty of ideas is to plan a monthly theme. In October, my blog posts have been themed around fear and the scary in the run up to Halloween, but other months have been themed around community, time management, and avoiding overwhelm.
Fear 3: ROI (return on investment)
You may have the time to run a blog and plenty of ideas to write about, but you worry that it won’t benefit your business in any way. I could list a whole host of reasons to run a business blog here, but I’ll leave you with four bullet points instead:
- Businesses that have a blog generate around 67% more leads and 55% more visitors to their website than businesses who do not have a blog.
- 70% of people who are active online prefer to find out about a business from their blog posts instead of watching or reading adverts about them.
- Read my blog post: 7 reasons to have a business blog
- Read my other blog post: More reasons to have a business blog
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Like any other aspect of running a business, blogging takes effort, but a well-maintained blog that speaks to your audience and customers can be incredibly beneficial for your brand. In fact, the hardest step is getting started.
And if blogging sounds like the ideal move for your business but you can’t or don’t want to write the blog posts yourself, get in touch.
