Haley Osborne
Blogging has become almost standard procedure for just about anyone with a website. Whether your business is connected with international banking, software development or organic farming, starting a blog is usually among the top “tips” website gurus insist on as a Must Have Item. While some people love blogging and turn blogs into ways to connect with their audience developing the income stream, others simply never get on with it. The truth is, blogging doesn’t suit everyone and is not a universal magic tool to boost your online business or website. What if you are wasting your time on blogging? Maybe you should give it up and try something more effective? Here are the top obvious reasons why you should consider to cut down on blogging right now.
You’re Doing it Only for Money
There was a time when people thought blogging instantly meant money. It’s true that there are some successful bloggers who have been able to use blogs to increase business income. However, those bloggers are putting in an insane number of hours each week to keep up with the demands of developing, running and maintaining a financially successful blog. By and large, most bloggers make either no money at all or the income is so small it’s seen as little more than a bit of pocket money. Blogging is not likely to make you famous industry influencer either, if it is a part of your content marketing strategy. The fully functioning, reliable and mature blogs like Mashable or The Huffington Post have gone through years of development to get their authority and influence. So, if you don’t love writing then chances are you’ll see blogging as a chore and you’ll be less likely to do it well.
You Lack Time or Discipline
Blog writers need to have a fair amount of discipline, time-management skills and focus in order to do it well. The act of blogging means more than simply writing posts and publishing them. It involves setting aside a substantial amount of time to work on posts, respond to comments, send out emails and share links with all the social networking websites you use to promote your blog. When you lack free time, you have to carve it out to get a whole lot done. Successful bloggers often allot 3 to 4 hours per day just to keep up with the planning and routine maintenance the blogs require. For those who are already overwhelmed with running a business, networking with clients or simply keeping up with day to day activities, a blog can become a time waster. You can actually spend time on blogging in prejudice of other business aspects. Keep in mind that it is better not to blog at all than to rush through the posts just to get new content up, diminishing the quality of the blog and creating poor impression of your brand.
You Have No Unique Ideas to Blog About
Each blog should be concentrated within a certain field and provide insight into its issues. If you set out the blog expecting to become the guru of chosen field, you should first do a thorough research. You will be surprised how much information is already out there written by industry gurus with the time, energy and focus to maintain a blog. If you can’t provide new insight into the problem you’d better spare the words. Instead you may email the authors of existing blogs in the field of your interest, find out their link building policy and try to maintain the information exchange. Offering visitors resources instead of content still keeps you in the front of customer’s minds but without putting as much responsibility on you to write, edit and maintain a blog.
Your Blog Lacks Purpose and Targeting
Originally, blogs were created for solely personal purposes by people who wanted to post their personal thoughts, observations and moments of wit. Such blogs stills exist and they don’t need a defined purpose or targeting. However, if blogging is a part of your business promotion and you want to attract more traffic to website, you absolutely need to have a sense of targeting your audience to keep your blog on track.
You Have a Thin Skin
Posting anything online opens you up to the criticisms of others. In some cases, the criticism will be valid but in others, it will just be the spiteful rants of internet trolls. Accepting criticism is difficult even when it’s valid and bloggers with a thin skin are likely to take any negative comments personally. If you are afraid that blogging will put your and your brand’s reputation under risk and attacks – you’d better choose one of blogging alternatives.
Your Business Is Not that Much Web Dependent
It may sound crazy with the rapid development of IT today, but some businesses still are better promoted offline especially when your primary business purpose is not fulfilled via the Internet. No doubt Internet is the primary source of information exchange. Websites are necessary, as they get much more exposure than any offline marketing. However, if your business is off line and you are not planning to turn your blog readers into potential customers, then it is enough to create website with primary business information and contacts, rather than spend time writing articles that are not likely to bring you profit.
What Are the Alternatives?
If blogging isn’t for you, that doesn’t mean your website is useless. There is a number of strategies you can use to make up for not having a blog that will still keep your website relevant and your audience engaged:
Partnership and Link Building. Check out blogs and websites of professionals in your field. Email them to ask about content exchange. Link building is not less effective than blogging and if writing is hell for you link building is a more common practice for business owners. When building partnership relations you may offer your partners or affiliates to write about your business on their blog. If they are blogging anyway, they will probably not refuse to give you some exposure if your brand/service is interesting for them and you offer some perks instead.
Continue to Update Content. Freeing yourself from the confines of a blog means you can update more sporadically and spend the time you need crafting the landing pages. While you may not post new content as often, keeping up with a more casual schedule will keep your audience engaged.
Redouble Efforts on Social Media. One of the biggest benefits of a blog is the connection it gives with an audience. In order to maintain that connection, make the most out of social media posts which are shorter, simpler and much more casual than blog posts.
Hire a Contributing Blogger. If you still want to keep a blog, you can deliver this task to a professionals. You may search the web for freelancers, however, it may be time consuming as well and doesn’t guarantee high quality writing. Other option is the companies which provide professional writing service, so you may hire a writer to provide you with quality articles. This way you will save your time and be sure that your blog content is well written.
Try vlogging.You may have problems with text creation but be very good at making videos. Visual materials are proved to work even better than articles. For some businesses visualization is not only beneficial – it is inevitable. Rather than explaining how your new gadget or app works – you can just create a 2-3 minute video showing it. The customers are more likely to spend time watching videos than reading complicated text tutorials. There are a lot of free or not expensive apps that can make video creation easier. For example, PowToon is the app that helps to create animated videos and presentations, with a number of templates provided. Other apps that are worth trying are Prezi, KnowledgeVision and Wideo. You may try different apps to see their pros and cons, and choose the one you are most comfortable with.
It’s time to face the fact that while blogging still benefits many people and companies, it simply isn’t for everyone. The blogging alternatives mentioned above will let you stay connected and engaged without the rigors and responsibility of a blog. By focusing your creative energy on outlets that you feel comfortable with, you’ll keep your website looking sharp, your reputation in good standing and your audience coming back for more.
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