Seems like most business blogs are like a bad 90 day relationship…
The business falls in love with blogging and immediately the business blog produces some small but promising results. Everyone is happy and hears wedding bells – the business blog is the answer!
But then something goes terribly wrong:
First, it gets harder and harder for the business to spend time on the blog. And after about a month, everyone wants it to work, but the spark just isn’t there. And so instead of posting daily, the business starts posting every few days, then every few weeks and about 90 days into the relationship, both sides realize they don’t love each other anymore and the relationship is on the rocks. Which begs the question, “What went wrong?”
Usually, what goes wrong with a business blog is that the team of bloggers either runs out of time, energy or ideas to turn into quality blog posts.
Blogging ROI is off the charts, especially if you blog effectively. In other words, you have to have something meaningful to say and do so every day. You see, blogs don’t work like static websites. The more you post, the more reward the blog provides:
1. Search engines add and drop blog articles faster. You go to the top faster, and you go away faster. Consistent, regular posts yield consistent, top rankings on search engines.
2. Other bloggers read your blog for ideas. Then they write posts referencing yours, increasing your blog’s audience. But they don’t see your ideas unless they show up in their RSS reader.
3. Social networks deliver traffic, but only if you have something that changes. No blog posts equals no changes equals no traffic from your social media initiative. More posts means more friends clicking to see what you’ve posted for them.
So, what do you do if you don’t see your blog though soft focus lenses anymore? Don’t give up. Either redouble your efforts to blog effectively or get some help.
See, your relationship with your blog isn’t a human one. Your blog won’t know the difference between you and a stand in ghost writer. Your girlfriend or boyfriend will.
I love that ’90 day relationship’ analogy. I always say that the road is littered with the corpses of failed corporate blog initiatives. There are really only two solutions. The first is to hire someone, a new employee, who will manage social media all day and handle all the blogging. I guarantee this will work every time, but you’re going to have to pay someone pretty well to do it, because it’s not a job that everyone can do. The second option is to hire a consultant to help. This will be less expensive than hiring a dedicated employee 100% of the time.