This blog, kindly hosted by WordPress, was built and customized in about 3 hours–about as long as it takes to find a great pair of shoes at the mall. A little tweaking of a design template’s style sheet, a few added links here and there, and voila — a blog! WordPress makes it easy and convenient for just about anyone to create a robust content website where they can share their thoughts and opinions, get feedback from customers, and yes, even sell products if they want to.
In fact, it’s become so trendy to have a blog that if your company doesn’t have one, your website looks like it’s wearing last season’s Jimmy Choos to this season’s Fashion Week cocktail party.
I may even be dating myself by writing a justification of blogging at this late date. That’s how pervasive the technology is. But when I look at many, many websites, especially small to mid-size businesses, I don’t see all that many blogs. And often the ones I do see have a slightly neglected appearance, like their owner started off strong and then just gave up. So I feel the need to talk about it, especially since I’m just now getting around to putting mine up today. I may eat my words, ’cause this isn’t as easy as it seems, I can tell you that already!
Just as there are great reasons to own this season’s Jimmy’s, there are plenty of great reasons to have a blog: improved search engine visibility, more interaction with customers and a convenient space to communicate with them. Plus, you’ll have an easy-to-update place to post company news and special offers — typically without help from a webmaster or other technical genius.
So why do some companies still resist it? Why am I — who knows this stuff backwards and forwards — just now doing the deed?
I’ve heard several reasons from my clients, and most of them make sense to me as a business owner myself.
The most common one is, “How will I be able to maintain it?”
It’s true, successful blogging does require continued posting and new content. And the content should be well-written and should convey your company’s brand personality to the fullest and provide some kind of service to your customers. So if you want a blog, you’re gonna need a writer. Or you’re going to have to become one yourself.
But think about how much you have to say about your company! And think about how great it feels to talk about what you’re doing with other people, and how much you stand to benefit from it.
The effort is minimal compared to the possible returns.
Plus, you can also hire a relatively inexpensive copywriting or even an intern to write your copy for you, based on bullet points you provide, or even from a phone conversation you have with them.
Another common reason why companies don’t have blogs is that they fear the “live” feedback from their customers. They’re afraid of what people will say about them if given the opportunity. This is completely understandable, especially given the negative press around blogs a few years ago: employees fired for what they blog about, companies crucified by bloggers and later by the mainstream media.
Businesses, mine included, labor under the assumption that we are in charge of public dialog about our companies. But we are not and never have been. And that is why corporate participation in social media — blogging, Facebook, Twitter, forums — is so vital to a company’s well-being. It allows us to participate in the dialog in a way that’s transparent to our customers. We can post to our blogs representing our company. We can answer a challenge to our customer service publicly and prove our willingness to correct the problem. We can speak as one person to another with our customers, instead of as a distant corporate entity.
Not only can we do it, but these days we have to do it. Customers don’t just appreciate it. They expect it.
Which leads me to a couple final points about blogging.
If you do post a blog to your site — and I hope you will — do not ever, and I mean ever, post comments to your own blog posing as a customer. No matter how sly we think we are, we are not sly enough, and they will know.
Similarly, never, ever, ever slam your competitor’s products in a third-party blog or social media application, especially if you’re pretending to be a disgruntled customer. They will also know. And they might just have more money than you have to spend on retribution. Trust me, I’ve seen this happen, and it’s not pretty.
To get started on your blog, head over to WordPress and open an account. It’s easy to do, and it’s free. Which is a lot less expensive than a new pair of Jimmy Choo’s.
Filed under: Blogging | Tagged: blog, Blogging, small business, Social Media, wordpress | Leave a Comment »
