What’s stopping you from blogging in your business, right now? Is it one of these commonly held 5 myths?
Or is there an FAQ that’s holding you back?
As a blogging mentor, working with businesses, I hear these misconceptions all the time. They knock people’s confidence, they are overwhelmed and that instinct to freeze or ignore the issue stops them from making any progress. With a little help and a sensible and manageable plan, you can find your creative blogging muse and channel them to grow your influence and grow your business through blogging.
Here are 5 of the most common myths:
Myth 1
“No One Reads Blogs”
Busted:
There are 329 million blog views every day.
We all read blogs, often without even realising it.
Have you ever Googled a question that you needed an answer to?
If it lead you to an article you then read, the chances are that was a blog.
Blogs are just written content, and the internet is an impossibly enormous repository of content.
Content IS the World Wide Web and Google feeds on content, in particular, it feeds on words. You type words into a search query and Google finds those words in content and returns an appropriate result.
Myth 2
“I have to blog every day”
Busted:
You can write every day if you want (but you don’t have to) – and probably do in the form of Social Media updates (they are really just micro-blogs). But, for your website to be noticed by Google and for readers to see that you are current and relevant, once a month is enough.
Tip: Aim for once a month.
Congratulate yourself on your one blog post.
However, as soon as you get used to writing regularly, you’ll come up with new ideas and will want to write more to capture them. By developing healthy writing habits, you’ll be blogging 2 or 3 times a month without even realising it.
Myth 3
“I’ve got nothing to say”
Busted:
That’s absolute nonsense! You run a business, of course you have something to say!
Write about what you love.
Tell the story behind the story.
Share the benefits of your business.
Share your passion.
Focus on writing about why you do what you do, not ‘what’ you do. No one cares about the thing itself, they care about the why. They care about the benefits and want to know what’s in it for them.
Myth 4
“I have to write a lot”
Busted:
The best writing says a lot with few words. We are all time poor and impatient these days.
You want to write enough on a blog to keep it short, snappy and to the point, but include enough to give it some depth and value. However, you don’t want to go on too much and write thousands of words. They key is to find a happy balance.
Aim for between 500 and 1,200 words. With the occasional long, well researched and in depth post and the occasional super quick update with lots of pictures.
There are no hard and fast rules so keep it practical and manageable for you. It is, of course, determined by your audience. Monitor which posts are most popular – the short ones or the long ones – and do more of what works well for your audience.
Myth 5
“I don’t have time”
Busted:
We can all say this about everything, but the fact is we all have 24 hours in the day and it’s up to us to prioritse and manage that time. Dont let yourself off the hook so easily.
Make time!
When you say, “I don’t have time…” what you are really saying is, “It’s not a priority.” and that’s OK, but if you want to do it, at some point you need to prioritise it.
You can say,
What’s stopping you from blogging in your business, right now? Is it one of these commonly held 5 myths?
Or is there an FAQ that’s holding you back?
As a blogging mentor, working with businesses, I hear these misconceptions all the time. They knock people’s confidence, they are overwhelmed and that instinct to freeze or ignore the issue stops them from making any progress. With a little help and a sensible and manageable plan, you can find your creative blogging muse and channel them to grow your influence and grow your business through blogging.
Here are 5 of the most common myths:
Myth 1
“No One Reads Blogs”
Busted:
There are 329 million blog views every day.
We all read blogs, often without even realising it.
Have you ever Googled a question that you needed an answer to?
If it lead you to an article you then read, the chances are that was a blog.
Blogs are just written content, and the internet is an impossibly enormous repository of content.
Content IS the World Wide Web and Google feeds on content, in particular, it feeds on words. You type words into a search query and Google finds those words in content and returns an appropriate result.
Myth 2
“I have to blog every day”
Busted:
You can write every day if you want (but you don’t have to) – and probably do in the form of Social Media updates (they are really just micro-blogs). But, for your website to be noticed by Google and for readers to see that you are current and relevant, once a month is enough.
Tip: Aim for once a month.
Congratulate yourself on your one blog post.
However, as soon as you get used to writing regularly, you’ll come up with new ideas and will want to write more to capture them. By developing healthy writing habits, you’ll be blogging 2 or 3 times a month without even realising it.
Myth 3
“I’ve got nothing to say”
Busted:
That’s absolute nonsense! You run a business, of course you have something to say!
Write about what you love.
Tell the story behind the story.
Share the benefits of your business.
Share your passion.
Focus on writing about why you do what you do, not ‘what’ you do. No one cares about the thing itself, they care about the why. They care about the benefits and want to know what’s in it for them.
Myth 4
“I have to write a lot”
Busted:
The best writing says a lot with few words. We are all time poor and impatient these days.
You want to write enough on a blog to keep it short, snappy and to the point, but include enough to give it some depth and value. However, you don’t want to go on too much and write thousands of words. They key is to find a happy balance.
Aim for between 500 and 1,200 words. With the occasional long, well researched and in depth post and the occasional super quick update with lots of pictures.
There are no hard and fast rules so keep it practical and manageable for you. It is, of course, determined by your audience. Monitor which posts are most popular – the short ones or the long ones – and do more of what works well for your audience.
Myth 5
“I don’t have time”
Busted:
We can all say this about everything, but the fact is we all have 24 hours in the day and it’s up to us to prioritse and manage that time. Dont let yourself off the hook so easily.
Make time!
When you say, “I don’t have time…” what you are really saying is, “It’s not a priority.” and that’s OK, but if you want to do it, at some point you need to prioritise it.
You can say,
What’s stopping you from blogging in your business, right now? Is it one of these commonly held 5 myths?
Or is there an FAQ that’s holding you back?
As a blogging mentor, working with businesses, I hear these misconceptions all the time. They knock people’s confidence, they are overwhelmed and that instinct to freeze or ignore the issue stops them from making any progress. With a little help and a sensible and manageable plan, you can find your creative blogging muse and channel them to grow your influence and grow your business through blogging.
Here are 5 of the most common myths:
Myth 1
“No One Reads Blogs”
Busted:
There are 329 million blog views every day.
We all read blogs, often without even realising it.
Have you ever Googled a question that you needed an answer to?
If it lead you to an article you then read, the chances are that was a blog.
Blogs are just written content, and the internet is an impossibly enormous repository of content.
Content IS the World Wide Web and Google feeds on content, in particular, it feeds on words. You type words into a search query and Google finds those words in content and returns an appropriate result.
Myth 2
“I have to blog every day”
Busted:
You can write every day if you want (but you don’t have to) – and probably do in the form of Social Media updates (they are really just micro-blogs). But, for your website to be noticed by Google and for readers to see that you are current and relevant, once a month is enough.
Tip: Aim for once a month.
Congratulate yourself on your one blog post.
However, as soon as you get used to writing regularly, you’ll come up with new ideas and will want to write more to capture them. By developing healthy writing habits, you’ll be blogging 2 or 3 times a month without even realising it.
Myth 3
“I’ve got nothing to say”
Busted:
That’s absolute nonsense! You run a business, of course you have something to say!
Write about what you love.
Tell the story behind the story.
Share the benefits of your business.
Share your passion.
Focus on writing about why you do what you do, not ‘what’ you do. No one cares about the thing itself, they care about the why. They care about the benefits and want to know what’s in it for them.
Myth 4
“I have to write a lot”
Busted:
The best writing says a lot with few words. We are all time poor and impatient these days.
You want to write enough on a blog to keep it short, snappy and to the point, but include enough to give it some depth and value. However, you don’t want to go on too much and write thousands of words. They key is to find a happy balance.
Aim for between 500 and 1,200 words. With the occasional long, well researched and in depth post and the occasional super quick update with lots of pictures.
There are no hard and fast rules so keep it practical and manageable for you. It is, of course, determined by your audience. Monitor which posts are most popular – the short ones or the long ones – and do more of what works well for your audience.
Myth 5
“I don’t have time”
Busted:
We can all say this about everything, but the fact is we all have 24 hours in the day and it’s up to us to prioritse and manage that time. Don’t let yourself off the hook so easily.
Make time!
When you say, “I don’t have time…” what you are really saying is, “It’s not a priority.” That’s OK, but if you want to do it, at some point you need to prioritise it.
You can say, “I don’t have time” about anything…
“I don’t have time to cook…”
“I don’t have tie to play with the kids…”
Priortise writing one blog a month – we can all find a couple of hours. But better still, allocated blocks of time in your diary, little and often, for writing then show up with a positive attitude and get on with it!
I’ve spoken at several different events on these 5 myths. Here are the slides I use in my talk.