Hands up if your business has a blog?
And hands up if you’ve updated in the past week? Or the past month? Or this year?
Don’t be embarrassed if the answer is some point this year. You won’t be the only one. Over 15% say they post on an irregular basis, definitely less than once a month.
Blogging is hard work
That said, there are many rounds of reporting that show a business with a blog has so many positive things going for it including:
- Companies that have blogs received 55% more traffic to their website than those that don’t
- Active company blogs have 97% more inbound links than websites without blogs
- Businesses who prioritise blogging are 13x more likely to see positive ROI than those who don’t
It’s not the benefit that you’re not convinced of
If you’ve started a blog for your business, then you probably were convinced that there were really good reasons to get one up and running. You might even have seen some good initial results.
You got a good initial burst going. And it wasn’t that you didn’t see the results that stopped you from posting.
Time and other things got in the way
Running a smaller business is a constant juggling act. I don’t need to tell you that. There is always something to do. And there’s probably always something urgent or something important or just something you’d rather do. And sometimes it just seems like it is too much like hard work.
So, should you stop?
Well, there are a couple of things to consider:
1. Are you still getting good traffic to your blog?
2. Are you getting good engagement on content?
3. Is your email list growing?
If those things are happening, then you really don’t have a problem, other than time. Maybe it’s worth trying to get your blogging mojo back and get back into the swing. Look at what content your customers have really loved, those that have driven traffic and engagement. What could you spin off from those, or have a similar theme.
How to get going
I’ve talked before about how your customers value consistency, of knowing when you’ll show up. But if you’ve set it up to be three times a week, and you’re struggling to keep that up, then maybe it’s time to reset your expectation and your customers.
Turning up once a week consistently is better than getting downhearted when you don’t meet your own schedule. Better to get one post out a week and feel good about that and keep going with that schedule. You might create better content that your customers will really value, and do all the good stuff like commenting and sharing.
Reset and restart, and start again.
Or delegate
No one said you have to do it yourself, all the time. Although I’ve had some interesting conversations around that one.
So, what will you choose? Stop, reset or delegate?