When starting a blog marketing campaign, one of the biggest things we hear from clients who are just a tad suspicious of this blogging thing is, “What in the world would we blog about?” It’s a great question, since your company really needs to have stuff to talk about in order for the blog to be something people want to read. But blog topics, once you’re in the groove, just come without much work. Google magically finds news stories that relate to your company, you yammer about it and, before you know it, you have a real life blog. So relax on the “what.”
The bigger question you might want to ask yourself before you start a blogging campaign is “Why?”
We were prompted to get all philosophical and question the meaning of blogging after reading “10 Crazy Things Bloggers Do to Sabotage Themselves” over at BlogWorld. Number 3, “Say it’s a Labor of Love,” pooh-poohs the idea of blogging just for blogging’s sake and suggests that by saying it’s just a hobby you’ve already sealed your blog’s fate as a non-money making disaster.
“If you blog for fun, go ahead and say that your blog is a labor of love. But if you’re trying to make money this way, calling it a labor of love only sabotaged your money-making efforts,” Allison at BlogWorld writes. “Calling it that solidifies in your mind and in the mind of everyone else that it’s not making money and probably is never going to make money. Instead, start calling it a business. You can still be passionate about and love your business! But you need to be the first person to acknowledge it as such if you want others to take you seriously as well.”
So what blogging-for-business types truly need to figure out is why they’re blogging in the first place. Does your blog exist to profile new products? Is your blog there to give clients a look at the daily ins and outs of your company? Is your blog a news resource for all of the relevant headlines rocking your industry? Or do you want your blog to become a business within your business that brings in new customers while generating news stories and opinions not found elsewhere? Once we’ve untangled these “whys” of blogging, we can start turning out brilliant blog creation.
So, readers, it’s your turn: Why did you start blogging? Why does blogging work for your business? Let’s hear all about it in the comments section below!
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