Pybop: Exceptional Web Content for Exceptional Businesses : Web content company, Web content strategy, Web content writing services from Shelly Bowen and the Pybop Team.

Shelly's Pybop

Should You Blog? No. You Should Not.

Blog Content Strategy iphone photo by Shelly Bowen, San Diego Content StrategistJust by asking the question, “Should a blog be part of my Web content strategy?” the answer is most likely No. At least, not now.

How can I answer so quickly? After discussing the pros and cons of blogging with several clients and colleagues, I realized that if you’re asking this question, you don’t yet know WHY you might blog. Or WHAT you might blog about. You may be hesitating over the time commitment or your writing resources. Clear signs of impending blog Neglect and Guilt. You don’t want that.

Wait. “But what about all the benefits of blogging” you say?

Blogging Benefits

  • Personal and product branding
  • Customer relationship building
  • Expertise sharing
  • Brand and product awareness
  • Customer traffic and search engine optimization…

I still say No, not if you’re not sure. You can get many of the benefits of owning a blog from other online sources. With much less guilt.

How to Get the Benefits of a Blog Without Blogging

  • Be a guest blogger. If you (or your company) have something really valuable to share, ask to be a guest blogger or be interviewed by a relevant blog. Be sure to follow the article with two lines or so about you, your company, and a link back to your company.
  • Comment on blogs. Leaving thoughtful, valuable comments on another blog makes you look smart. And discoverable.
  • Leverage LinkedIn
    • If you have employees, set up a business page profile on LinkedIn.
    • Keep your profile up-to-date and active: Update your status with news announcements and books, add events, connect with colleagues, list articles and media about your company, and request and provide endorsements
    • Create an industry-specific group to share news and information — or join others and participate in the conversations. Here’s an example of mine: San Diego Interactive Content Professionals.
  • Micro-blog. If you have a lot to share, share it a little bit at a time on Twitter. Here’s a business guide for Twitter.
  • Photo blog. Start a public photo account for you and your business on a photo-sharing site like Flickr. Be sure to put the title, description, and tags to good use so you are more easily found. More photo blogging tips and ideas.
  • Video blog. Create a You-Tube account for your business. Share tips, demos, and interviews related to your business.

The idea is to get your message and brand out there in other ways, wherever your customer may be.

These are just a few social media tools you can use — you can also share documents and presentations, create public forums on Google Groups, use Facebook, share articles on Digg, and a whole heck of a lot more. Adding a blog later when you have a clear vision of what you’ll write, how you’ll accomplish it, and for what primary purpose, is icing.

Just remember, if you choose not to blog, do be sure to update your content on your Web site frequently. An out-of-date, unchanging Web site that has no valuable content is a sad place to visit — for your customers and for search engines.

Posted by Shelly Bowen on Apr 02, 2010. Filed under SEO Content, Social Media Content, Web Content Strategy

 

3 Comments | RSS feed for comments on this post

  • Hear hear! I think you make a wonderful point that’s rarely heard these days. I would add, however, that people need to be equally disciplined about deciding why and how they will use other forms of social media, particularly Twitter. Too often a business’s Twitter feed will devolve into a stream of 140-character press releases. (I expect you address this in the business guide for Twitter.)Thanks for the great post!

    Comment by Jennifer on Apr 09, 2010

  • Thanks for the add, Jennifer. I totally agree. All online messaging, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, wherever, should align with overall business goals — that’s (partly) what a Web content strategy is for. A content strategy will help guide the message across media platforms, even if many people from the company are talking. Thanks again!

    Comment by Shelly Bowen on Apr 09, 2010

  • [...] Bowen, an independent consultant on the West coast just wrote a great blog post called

    Pingback by Questioning Content: Q&A with Content Strategist Kristina Halvorson | Sparksheet on May 06, 2010

Add your thoughts. Comment on this Pybop post.