The genius team over at Particle Tree have written a great article titled An Argument For Small Business Blogging. Again, it’s a great article, but what bothered me about it is the same thing that bothers me with other articles like this. It’s written with the mindset that every company should blog.
When beginning work with a client we take an approach that I believe separates us from the rest of the blog consulting companies (of course every company has something that separates them, right?). If a company comes to us saying they wish to start blogging we don’t try to figure out their blogging strategy or how to integrate a blog into their website, we ask if they even need a blog first and if they could manage one properly. We do this for one simple reason, not every company needs a blog or can manage a blog.
Blasphemy!
Well hear me out first. Let’s look at your local plumber for example. The case for him blogging might include:
- Better ranking in search engines
- Able to respond to customer feedback
The arguments against him blogging include:
- Too time consuming to do it right for just one individual
- Can receive personal feedback on a more personal, face-to-face level without a blog
- Business comes from local word-of-mouth and not web searches
Yes there are many people who might search for a plumber in Tampa and nothing is to stop the plumber from getting a well organized SEO (*note: SEO is not dirty if done right) site up there and putting it in some local directories. But does the plumber need those online customers? If he is well-established I don’t think he does, but newer plumbers would definitely benefit.
Finally think about this question. Is it more damaging to not have a blog than to have one that doesn’t get the job done and possibly makes your company look worse? Not every company needs a blog and not every blog needs a company.
