Starting a business blog can do wonders for your SEO, website traffic and conversion rates. You’ll meet new customers organically and help retain existing customers by providing them added value through blogging initiatives.
But that doesn’t mean that blogging is for every business. And before you get started, you should pause and think about these seven arguments against starting a business blog to make sure your affairs are in order to ensure the best possible circumstances for success.
7 Reasons You Might Want to Wait Before Starting a Business Blog
If you’ve been wondering how to start a business blog, you should read this first. If you don’t have everything in order and a clear content marketing strategy before you get started, you’re more likely to fail.
Despite the fact that there are more than 572 million blog posts estimated on the internet, many businesses have a handful of blog posts sitting within a blog they haven’t updated in several years. It harms their reputation and makes potential customers question whether they are still in business. Don’t be one of those businesses. Ask yourself these questions before starting your blog.
1. You Don’t Have a Firm Website Foundation
Before you start a blog, you need a clear, customer-centric website copy. If you don’t have a good website, your money is better spent on investing in rewriting your website content instead of spending time and money on blogging.
A blog won’t do much to improve your website traffic if you lack SEO strategy and the best infrastructure for your website. Slow websites will have poor ranking factors and a blog can’t redeem those errors.
2. You Lack the Internal Skills to Blog
You can certainly hire a freelance copywriter to write your blog for you. But that also requires resources, and you need to be ready to commit those resources long-term so that you don’t post a couple of blogs and then go dormant.
Deciding who will write your blog and how often is essential before getting started. Otherwise, inconsistent posting will lead to inconsistent results.
3. You Don’t Have Time to Commit to a Blog Schedule
Even if you hire a copywriter to complete your blog writing, you need to have the time to answer questions and oversee the process. This means being responsive about content calendars, promotional schedules and how each blog fits into your marketing schedule.
Business owners can be hands-off with their blogging, but the reality is, no one knows your customers like you do, which means being hands-off can result in less impact for your blog.
4. It Won’t Automatically Bring You More Business
Just like other types of marketing, blogging is not a magic bullet that automatically makes you more money. Blogging must be a part of a larger marketing and SEO strategy.
Starting a blog thinking it will automatically increase your website traffic is a flawed approach. You need to blog because it will help engage your customers. Not because it will make you big money.
5. You Lack SEO Research for Your Business
Blogging goes hand-in-hand with a master SEO strategy. It requires taking time to listen to your customers and learn about their interests, pain points and requirements.
As you listen to your customers, you can adjust your SEO research to look for other ways that customers are finding you. The more you can focus on your customer needs, the better your SEO research will be.
So start with the customer, complete your SEO research and then blog to meet their needs and deliver content that helps in guiding them toward making a purchasing decision.
6. Blogging Strategies and Best Practices Regularly Shift
You need to be ready to follow blogging trends if you’ll be writing your blog yourself. Read industry news, follow the best blog writers and keep close tabs on shifting trends.
Over the last few years, long-form blog content with less frequency is taking over the shorter, weekly blogs that we used to see several years ago. And today instead of using the same keyword throughout your post, you’ll want to do some research on keyword clusters to meet the new Google algorithms.
7. You’re Only Doing It to Check the Box for Your Marketing
Just because you’ve read that blogging is an important business activity, that does not mean that you should start a blog right now. You might have far more pressing issues within your business or marketing strategy that need attention before you begin your business blog.
Unsure if these arguments apply to you? Contact us for a free consultation to discuss your blogging needs and what’s driving you to start business blogging.
Answers to Common Questions Related to How to Start a Small Business Blog
If you’re still looking for information related to starting a small business blog, read these common questions and answers.
Do I Need a Business License to Start a Blog?
No, you don’t need a business license to start a blog. But if you’re starting a blog you plan to monetize, setting up a business so you can have a business bank account will make your accounting simpler.
How Do I Start a Blog for My Small Business?
Ideally, the CMS you’re using for your website will have a blog function that you can turn on for simple use. Otherwise, you’ll need to choose a blog platform and integrate it into your small business website.
Do Business Blogs Make Money?
Some bloggers set out with the only goal being to monetize the site through ads, affiliate links and partnerships. But small businesses often start blogs to attract new customers to their website with the goal of generating leads.
Are Blogs Still Relevant in 2022?
Yes, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that you can launch a blog and it will magically improve your SEO. You need a full content distribution plan and content marketing.