How? When? Where? Why?

Actually, the big question most people ask me about blogging is ‘whether?’ That is, whether it’s a good idea to have a blog at all.

Reasons not to blog

Often this question is predicated on fear. Blogging is a commitment, can take a lot of time (or money), and requires pretty sound writing skills.

And, in fact, I sometimes counsel clients not to blog for any one of these reasons. The fear, it turns out, can sometimes be justified. Let’s look at each reason a little closer:

• Commitment. To be effective, blogs should be updated regularly. Even if the blog posts are not the core of your website, you should try to have a new post at least once a week. Besides the obvious SEO benefits, visitors need to know that your site is dynamic, and that there are reasons to return. If you can’t or won’t commit to posting regular blogs, then a blog is probably not for you.

• Time. Closely related is the expenditure of time. Blogging definitely takes time, especially if you want to provide truly useful content for your readers. (And if you don’t, what’s the point?) But for some people the extra time isn’t justified.

It is possible, of course, to outsource your blog (ehem … have a glance around my website, for instance) and that is a viable option for anyone seeking to provide high-quality content on a regular basis. Professional bloggers, for instance, regularly outsource posts, especially when they’re managing multiple blogs. To keep costs down, it is also possible to outsource the editing of a blog, allowing you to write quickly, with the confidence that the final product will be effective and flawless.

• Writing skills. Although blogging is a less formal form of communication than journalism, it is nevertheless more formal than emails. Still, many bloggers take no more care in their writing than they do in their emails, with the result that their posts are often riddled with errors. This has the effect of undermining your credibility, annoying readers and chasing away traffic. (See my post on ‘Why proofreading matters.’) So if you are serious about blogging, you do need to understand the basics of grammar, spelling, diction and syntax in order to be taken seriously. (One step toward building the skills necessary to become a competent blogger is to subscribe to this blog, by clicking one of the buttons above).

Notice something about this list of reasons not to blog? It’s pretty short!