Good question.
Some people cringe at hearing this word which has in fact become a buzz word around the net.
Ok, so why blog? I’ll tell you why. Because it works. But it works when done right, and it’s the doing it right that’s the tricky part; otherwise, you’re just spinning your wheels. How to do it right is a huge subject. For now, I just want to look at some of the excuses people use NOT to blog. Once you get over that mental hurdle, we can talk about how to do it right in another article.
Excuse #1: There are already too many blogs out there
Well that’s quite true. There are lots of blogs out there, but that’s no excuse. That’s just like saying, “there are already too many websites out there, so why should my company have a website?”. If there are lots of blogs out there, that means that there’s a big market out there too, which means that your job is to specialize, find a niche, and create a really great service for that niche.
People are reluctant to join a new service because they are overwhelmed. They receive too much information as is. They’re not interested in more info. But people are interested in specific information related to the few things they’re focused in a given period (whatever those few things maybe be). You’re job as a blogger then is to figure out what your target audience is interested in, and feed them that critical info.
Think about this scenario. You come home from work. You’re tired and hungry. You park, and check your mail box. You roll your eyes at all the junk mail stuffed into it. But that last pizza deal catches your eye because you don’t feel like cooking. At that moment you need that service and information. Even though you rolled your eyes at all the other (poorly targeted) stuff, you put that pizza one aside. What separated that flyer in your mind from all the other junk mail? Nothing more than the fact that you had a perception that you needed it at that particular moment in your life.
The internet has one advantage over conventional marketing. You can specifying your target market almost down to a science, thanks to webstats. That means you can always reach hungry pizza lovers at the right moment of their hunger.
As an other example, a bride about to get married has wedding planning on her mind. During the lead up to the wedding, wedding related services will always catch her attention.
The point to be made here is that the existence of many blogs doesn’t mean that you can’t catch someone’s attention. All it takes is a good service with the right marketing plan. People are always looking for quality information that will assist them, based on their interests at a given time or phase in their life.
Excuse #2: It’s too time consuming. I don’t have the time
Remember that we mentioned above that (a) people receive too much (quantity) of information in their daily lives and (b) too much information that they don’t need? Well, that works to your own time-starved advantage. That means you don’t have to blog often, and people’s short internet attention span ensures that you just need to keep your blog posts short, sweet, and to the point. Again, your job is to give them information they really need or want, at that particular moment (or phase) of their life. I’m sure you could manage 1 article every 2 weeks couldn’t you? What is one hour of your time every 2 weeks in exchange for the opportunity to engage your customers in meaningful dialogue, as well as the potential of creating sales to many people in one fell swoop?
If you really couldn’t be bothered or don’t have the time, why not hire a web writer to do it for you? 2 articles a month is really quite a minimal amount of labour to pay for in exchange for keeping an ongoing relationship with your customers.
Excuse #3: I suck at computers and technology
Somehow you managed create an email and facebook account for yourself though, didn’t you? If you can email, and post and comment on Facebook, hey, then you can blog.
At the very most, just invest a small amount of money in the setup of the blog. A basic blog without much customization can be set up in under an hour. Then you simply hire a web consultant for another hour or two to give you a quick training session, and your all set to be a happy blogger.
Excuse #4: I suck at writing
This is the most common one I hear. If you’re already running a business, that means you’re already interacting with your customers, offering them advice either verbally or by email, etc.. So why do you think that blogging would be any different? Your clients aren’t expecting William Shakespear to come out on the blogging stage. They just want your opinion as a person that deals with your field every day. You’ll find that some of your most successful blog posts will not be 5 paragraph essays or poetry. On the contrary, you’ll find your most successful posts will be how-to advice or simply your quick opinion on your area of expertise. Want a good place to start? Think of 3 common questions your clients or customers ask you on a weekly basis, and write a brief, 3 paragraph answer for each one. Not only does it give you material, but it actually cuts down on the manual labour of you having to repeat yourself with your clients. It also forces you to think out the problem to have better clarity in your own understanding of subject.
Conclusion
Forget the excuses. Just blog.
