If You’re in Business, You Need a Blog

It's taken me long enough, but I finally started a blog. And you need to do it, too.

I had a lot of excuses: I didn’t have time. I wasn’t sure I had anything worth saying. I wanted one branded to look similar, but not identical, to my Web site, and I couldn’t do it on my own (I pulled my hair out trying to set mine up on every platform out there). 

I paid a Web developer to set up a custom heading using a template. Then there were bugs in my first blogging platform, requiring me to move it. More hassles trying to figure out how to map the domain name to the new location.

Finally, there are no more excuses. Just me and the page. Or at least the screen.

Now, there’s only the Fear Factor. The same reason I’ve put off writing everything I’ve ever written in my life.

What if?

What if I everything I write about has already been said?

What if nobody reads it?

What if it isn’t wonderful?

But I know that I can’t be a serious marketer without a blog, so I’m holding my breath and jumping, trusting that all PR 2.0 experts are right: blogging is an indispensible tool for building an online presence.

I read a quote from newsday.com quoting blogging queen Debbie Weil that is easing my mind:

“It doesn't have to be brilliant,” says Debbie Weil, a Washington, D.C.-based corporate social media consultant and author of "The Corporate Blogging Book" (Portfolio; $23.95). “It just has to be useful and interesting enough that it's worth a read.”

Remember that a blog is meant to be more interactive and less static than a traditional corporate Web site, she says.

“Don't put on a stiff corporate voice,” says Weil. “People don't respond to that.”
Be humorous when you can, she suggests. Try posting helpful tips or blog about an event you found interesting.

So I feel better now. I don’t have to be brilliant – just readable. And I can be interactive, “uncorporate” and sometimes even humorous. As long as you’re laughing with me and not at me, it’s OK. I don’t even mind if you don’t think it’s wonderful. 

Time to go get your own. 
 

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Tagged as: Blogging, blogs, business, The Blog Squad, writing