Why Not to Hold Off Your Blog Launch Till You Have it All Set

Are you thinking a blog could be good for your business?

Are you perhaps in a line of business where not having a blog makes you the odd one out and you’re not sure what to do about it?

Would you like to start but your legal person says to be careful and you have so many other things to think about that here you are, six months or a year down the track, being careful, but with no blog?

Or are you confused by conflicting advice about blogging from well-meaning and expert or would-be expert friends and colleagues – do it/don’t do it, great for the company/ bad for the company, make sure you use/don’t use, blogging platform X?  

These are common situations. Which is why my advice consistently to business owners is to calmly form their own assessment and establish a basic risk management strategy and get started – or get someone in the company, who seems to know what they are doing and has the owner’s confidence, to get started.

The fact is, while you can read a lot, listen to podcasts and generally research blogging, if you want to really understand blogging and what it can do for your business, there is no substitute for getting started and doing it.

Brian Oberkirch has an excellent post how to stop worrying and launch your blog: he lists reasons commonly advanced for not getting to the point of launching a blog, and explains very directly why not to let these get in the way.

And I like the fact that he does not gloss over the time commitment involved:

…however much time you think social media will take, add more.  What you save in money, you’ll spend in time.  Edgework is time intensive, hand-crafted.  Lots of one-offs.  You’re building the tribe one person at a time.  Plan to put in the hours.

Spot on!