Announcing Small Businesses Blog Reviews
February 26, 2008 by Liz Fuller
Filed under Social Media
In other words, he predicted that the other 22 million small businesses in this country would not take up blogging despite the fact that it had the potential to provide them with a competitive advantage over 95% of their competitors.
Lawrence is a web designer who works first-hand developing websites for small business owners. His article is filled with real-life examples of business owners who neither listened to nor understood Lawrence’s advice to create a blog to benefit their business.
Lawrence cites multiple reasons for the reluctance of most small business owners to embrace blogging. He says that business owners lack the requisite skills to blog – they are not computer literate and they are not good writers. He also states that business owners don’t understand the proper focus of blogging: they want to use it to advertise rather than reveal themselves for who they really are. Besides, business owners are just too busy to blog.
I don’t doubt any of these reasons. While I believe that every business could benefit from a blog (especially right now when having a blog is still something remarkable in itself), I don’t for an instant believe that every business owner should write one.
One of the first rules of business is that people should play to their strengths. A strong leader is self-aware. He or she knows what they do well and arranges their work so they have the time to do it. The rest, they delegate to others with complementary strengths.
Most small business owners are not literate in law or accounting, but that doesn’t mean they simply ignore the law or the government. Instead, they hire a lawyer to write their contracts and hire an accountant to calculate their taxes. Why couldn’t they also hire a writer to create their blog?
I know that purists will object to this. After all, a blog is supposed to be an authentic expression of self. But for a business, a blog should be an authentic expression of the business. That means it could be, but does not have to be, written by the owner.
It could be written by the owner’s spouse, the owner’s teenager, or the owner’s mother-in-law. It could be written by an employee. Or it could be written by someone hired strictly for the purpose of writing a blog. It could also be written by a combination of people, removing the burden from just one person, and adding more variety to the posts.
My point is that none of the reasons Lawrence states: lack of skill, lack of time or discomfort with the transparency of blogging, are insurmountable. They would rapidly fade away if the business owner understood the value of blogging to their business.
Small business owners are problem solvers with a constant focus on the bottom-line. If they actually believed they were going to get more customers, obtain more sales, produce less waste and spend less money on advertising, they would find a way around those obstacles.
At businessandblogging, one of our goals is to show you real-life examples of businesses that believe blogging made a difference to their success. We are going to show you first-hand how small business owners have devised creative solutions to overcome their own barriers to success. Look for our first small business review in the next few days!
What about you? Are you blogging yet? How is it working for you? What’s going well? What isn’t?
If you have a small business blog that you would like us to review, please let us know. You can comment below or email us directly.
“If they actually believed they were going to get more customers, obtain more sales, produce less waste and spend less money on advertising, they would find a way around those obstacles.”
I think that sums it up really. What’s stopping them is the belief that they will get a return on their investment (of time and money).
Hi John!
I think business blogging is a long-term investment in many cases. Often small business owners are looking for a quick fix.
Absolutely, it’s taken me a year to build my blog into a useful vehicle for my business and in that time I’ve seen a lot of businesses start a blog, falter and give up when it doesn’t provide an instant return.
I hadn’t previously thought about the law/accounting analogy. You’re right, these “outsourced” services are not just accepted but are actually expected to thoroughly represent one’s company and brand. Many companies even outsource marketing-oriented initiaives like graphic design, webmastering, etc. Why not an outsourced blogger?
I think that there are people who are afraid of writing and therefore afraid of blogging. Someone could be excellent at running their business, and still not have the interest in writing blog posts. Because so many blogs are personal, I think that many people have the perception that every blog has to be personal. There are many extremely well-written blogs that have been outsourced and we hope to find some of them.
This was a great post, Liz.
We talk to a lot of businesses here, both startups and ongoing businesses and this is advice I think a lot of them would be wise to follow.
As a consumer, I always check the website first. It’s practically replaced the phonebook for me. It’s great to see a company who has embraced the transparency and let me know them as a group of people behind the company, not just the products they sell and produce.
And totally agree with the long term investment comment. It’s nice to see instant results, but very rare.
Hi Chelle!
I’m like you. If I’m going to deal with a new business, I look it up online. I think that more and more consumers are moving that direction.
Businesses might not get a quick return monetarily but their blogs will enable them to get connected and in touch with their target audience. Those conversations, interaction and connection will guarantee a long term return in brand loyalty. With brand loyalty, sales are assured.
Hi Vivienne
I agree – blogging is a long term strategy which enables better connection between the business and customers – which drives longterm loyalty. Business owners who go into blogging and expect quick results may get disappointed and give up too soon.
By the way, I am really enjoying the series on your blog about famous advertising slogans – especially those that have built decades of identity and customer loyalty. Great stuff!