Does a Small Business Need a Blog?

Ten years ago, the question was does a small business need a website?  Not everyone agreed on the answer to that question, but as the internet grew and took on more importance, the “yes” crowd steadily got bigger.  Recently, though, that crowd is starting to shrink.  If you reframe the question to, “Does a small business need a web presence?” you’ll rediscover the big “yes” crowd.  However, no longer does it seem that that web presence needs to be a website, in the traditional sense of the word.  One alternative to a small business website is a blog.  Nowadays, many small business have a website and a blog. Are blogs the new websites? Does a small business need a blog?

While I firmly believe that every small business can benefit from a web presence, the question of the blog isn’t so clear to me.  Let’s look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of blogging for small businesses.

The Advantages

1. It’s cheap

Small businesses don’t have huge marketing budgets, and so anything inexpensive is worth looking closely at.  Whether you have a website already or not, creating a blog is quick and can be free.  If you want to host your blog on your own domain, then you’ll need to purchase the domain from any number of places.  Then, you have to decide which blogging platform to use.  All of the major blogging platforms are free: WordPress, Blogger, TypePad (micro), Tumblr.  I have played around with each of these, and I think that WordPress is the way to go for the small business.  The interface is powerful, and the ability to add plug-ins makes it infinitely extensible.  Even if you just want to set up a simple blog, it is painless to do in WordPress, and you have room to grow.

If you want something more customized than the basic themes offered by WordPress, there are tons of free WordPress themes out in the wild, and there are developers who specialize in creating WordPress themes if you want to go the route of spending a little money on your blog.  The other option is to tweak an existing theme.  AdamDiStefano.com is built on WordPress and runs a modified version of Chris Pearson‘s free Copyblogger theme.

Even if you do decide to hire someone to create a theme and setup your WordPress for you, these kinds of jobs are considerably less expensive than building a website, because the framework already exists.

2. Creates a rapport with a customer

I keep hearing that customers want to buy from a business that they can connect with.  While, I’m still not convinced that this is the primary thing that customers are looking for in a company, providing a little transparency to customers can’t hurt.  While I may not care if the person I’m purchasing my new rocking chair from is my friend, some insight into that person’s craft can go a long way towards convincing me to purchase from him.

Aside from that, one of the biggest advantages that small businesses have over big business is that they have a human face.  Big business is catching on to this and many big companies now have brand advocates whose entire job is to make the business look human through the use of social media, blogs and other humanizing devices (there is still something strangely creepy about this process).  Oftentimes, these efforts can come off as forced, and rigid, with a corporate blog reading like something between a press release and an annual report.  Small businesses have the advantage of already having that human aspect, and so blogging will serve only to cement that.

3. Establishes you as an expert

Returning to the example of my rocking chair-making friend, by blogging about his craft, he is building authority.  If he produces quality content that educates and informs, this will be recognized and add credibility to sales pitch.  I imagine that there is considerable skill involved in making a well-crafted rocking chair.

Because small businesses often have to deal with the customer’s fear that they are not as professional or reliable as corporations, building this authority and credibility is essential for reassuring customers and attracting them.

4. Creates a way to be found (SEO)

In a previous post, I explained how search engine optimization works on a basic level.  Blogging helps with three major factors that determine a site’s ranking on Google: content, regular updates, and popularity.

Content speaks for itself.  By blogging, you create content.  Content is what search engines index.  Likewise, by its very nature, blogging provides the regular updates of relevant new content, that search engines like to see in sites.

Blogging helps the site’s popularity because if you’re doing it right, you’re creating content that people will want to link back to.  These back links are the currency that search engine algorithms are built on.

All this boils down to ways people can find you.  Whether it be through search engines, or through those back links (which people sometimes forget are more valuable in and of themselves than as search rank juice).  More visitors to your site means more potential customers.

The Disadvantages

1. It’s time consuming

Writing a blog takes time.  Contrary to what I’ve heard some claim, it takes lots of time, especially if you want to do it right.  You need to brainstorm topics.  Outline posts.  Research information that goes into those posts.  Write a draft.  Proof and edit that draft.  Post the final version and do any necessary formatting.  Then there’s the process of promoting the blog.  All of this adds up to a sizeable chunk of time.

Unfortunately, time is probably the one thing small business owners have the least of, right next to money.  And as we’ve already seen, time is money.

2. It doesn’t make sense for every business

I’ve heard proponents of blogging claim that everyone should be blogging.  I don’t agree.  First of all, if you’re not comfortable communicating with your customers, you shouldn’t blog.  Some will tell you that you can learn the skills necessary to blog, and yes, you probably could, but the idea behind blogging is to be authentic.  If you’re not being authentic, don’t bother.  Or if the authentic you is not someone that you think will draw customers in, don’t do it.

There are also certain industries where I just can’t see much sense in blogging.  The way I see it, the ideal is to be sharing expertise with potential customers or with people who will refer potential customers.  The problem isn’t so much that the service or product you provide doesn’t require much expertise, because if you’re in business, you’re adding some kind of value.  Instead, the issues arises more when the area of expertise is related to something that people don’t particularly want to learn about.  For example, I use dry cleaning services, and I’m sure there’s a whole science behind the process, but I really can’t see myself or (anyone else for that matter) reading a dry cleaner’s blog.  And the people who will read the blog are unlikely to be customers.  There’s a better chance they’ll be people looking to start their own dry cleaning business, or looking for DIY home solutions.

For some businesses, running a blog just doesn’t convert.  A blog just like any marketing tool, should have a measurable return on investment (ROI).  If there’s no ROI, there’s no reason to do it.

3. Risk of abandoning it

Worse than not having a blog is having an abandoned blog.  You see them all the time because they are littering the internet.  A blog that’s online is there for all to see.  If a user finds your blog and sees that it hasn’t been updated for six months, this immediately raises alarm bells in that user’s mind.  The same user finding a static web page that hasn’t been updated in six months doesn’t have those same concerns as long as the info on it is current.

Whether, justified or not, an abandoned blog conveys lack of professionalism, poor management or fear that the business no longer exists.  if you start writing a blog, you need to be certain you can keep up with the commitment, otherwise, it will do more harm than good.

Conclusion

Blogging is not for every business.  To decide whether it’s right for you, you need to evaluate the above points and do the math.  However, even if you decide not to blog, you should still have some kind of online presence.  This can be a static website, an active presence on Twitter (warning: also time consuming if done correctly), a Facebook fan page, a Google place page, landing pages as provided by online directories, etc.

Blogging can be a powerful marketing tool, but it’s not for everyone.  Find what works for you, and use it.  And beware those who promise one size fits all solutions.