Although I wrote Is a Blog Right for Your Business? in 2007, people still mention the article or contact me with questions after reading it. Blogging has changed a lot since then, but one paragraph remains true.
Some people like to read blogs, others like to read newsletters, still others like to rely on feeds and some read a few or all of them. No matter the method the information is distributed, each medium has one thing in common: content. Having a blog connects your newsletter, your website and your business with all of these readers.
More people probably ask whether they should start a blog for their business today in a world where we have zillions of blogs and social networks vying for our tired, information-overloaded eyes. In my original post, I say the biggest factor in starting a blog is how often you can update it.
I don’t believe that anymore. I’ve been updating this blog once or twice a week for a long time as I’ve gotten busier with clients and volunteer commitments. I’m not going to throw up a blog entry just to keep up my “blog X times a week” quota. You don’t have time to waste and I’m not going to take advantage of your time by posting garbage.
If you can post a valuable post, do it. Even if it means you can only write a post once a month. It’s a way to give your website fresh content, something search engines love to gobble up. You may not have much traffic, but at least your site won’t look too static. If you’re active in Twitter, it may help to add a Twitter feed to your website. This adds more freshness to your website to keep it looking alive.
Part two of the blogging for business article discusses the use of blogs to manage a website. My my my. We’ve come a long way. When WordPress added “Pages,” it simplified using the blogging app as a website content management system. Many other blogging apps followed suit adding website features for easier management. Many of those blog apps don’t call themselves that anymore. They say they’re good for creating blogs and websites.
How has blogging changed? What do you think of blogging for business? How often should blogs be updated, or does it matter?