10 Lame Excuses NOT to have a Business Blog in 2010

Warning, this is a vent blog directed towards business owners and entrepreneurs, so if you’re not up for a little venting, you may want to continue on with your day…..But if you’re like me and frustrated to see the awesome benefits of content marketing and blogging that is available to every business owner in the world only to have a very, very small percentage take advantage of the beautiful medium, then keep reading.

I’ve recently started doing more and more consulting with small businesses. I love helping people succeed, so such a business is only a natural result of these circumstances. But I’m finding the more I discuss the power of blogging and content marketing with other businesses, the more I’m blown away with lame and down-right silly excuses as to why these men and women are not jumping on the train of Web 2.0 and giving their customers what they are truly looking for.

So in this little post, I decided to take a break from trying to convince small business owners across the globe to begin to embrace information marketing. Instead, I’m going to talk about some of the bogus excuses I’m hearing more and more these days from small biz owners and entrepreneurs everywhere.

My company’s website does not currently have a blog because…..

I’m just not good at writing.

You’re not good at writing huh? Well tell me, are you good at talking? In other words, are you able to talk to customers about your services and products? I’d be willing to bet you are, which is why I’d be willing to bet you could also blog if you only believed in yourself. Remember though, you do not have to blog alone. Do you have a spouse or a friend that could help and edit? How about a co-worker?

Frankly, I’m just tired of people blaming their writing skills for their lack of content marketing. It’s lame and just like any other skill, we get better at it the more we do it. But it starts with an ‘I can’ versus an ‘I can’t’, that much I’m sure of.

I don’t have the time.

Out of time are you? You mean to tell me that you don’t have 2-3 hours a week to produce 1-2 articles about a subject in your field?? C’mon, that’s crapola and we both know it. Have you watched a TV show this week? If your answer is ‘yes’, then you’re lying and do have the time.

We’ve all heard it before—Everyone has enough time to do the things they want to do. We all prioritize the events and activities of our lives that are most important. Instead of saying ‘I just don’t have the time’ you may as well just be honest with yourself and say ‘I just don’t really care’.

No one in my industry reads blogs.

No one? Really? So are you telling me that not a single person in your industry that’s looking for your service or product doesn’t have questions before they buy? Are you inferring that every consumer in your industry is a natural expert and is born knowing everything about your business? Sure…..gotcha.

I don’t have anything to blog about.

Well I guess you don’t have a product then either, do you? Heck, you don’t even have a business, so why don’t you just close the doors and move on to your next successful endeavor considering you picked the only industry in the world that is void of any and all information.

In other words, start thinking like a consumer; stop thinking like a business owner.

Blogging costs too much money.

You’re right. I mean, considering starting a blog takes about $20 and a few hours of time a week, yeah, sounds incredibly expensive to me. I guess that’s why you’re still spending $800 a month to have a big ad that no one reads in the Yellow Pages, right?

Blogging Doesn’t Work.

Yeah, and neither does the sun. Good grief, the idea that blogging doesn’t work, in 2010, is a sign of delirium. My blog at River Pools saved me over $6,000 last month in free searches that I would have normally paid had I been completely Pay Per Click/ Adwords dependent. I don’t know about you, but to me that’s a lot of money.

Blogging isn’t for smaller, local businesses.

Again, utter near sidedness and lunacy. Blogging is definitively the best tool (other than Google local business/search) to optimize one’s website for local search phrases. Considering that every business provides services in at least one town or city, local blog optimization is crucial.

We’ve been doing it this way for years.

Yeah, that’s exactly what Henry Ford said……and JC Penny’s…..and K-Mart…..and every other business that was at one time extremely successful but has now gone the way of the dinosaur. Newsflash:

Just because it worked yesterday doesn’t mean it’s going to work today.

I’m just not web-savvy.

Well then get web-savvy—at least enough to be able to whip up a document in Word and paste it on a blogging platform. In 2010, not being web savvy is no longer a thing to brag about for a business owner. In fact, it’s embarrassing. I can say this because it wasn’t too long ago that I was clueless when it came to the web and computers. That is until I got mad at myself enough to do something about it. Any person, no matter what the age or background, can become comfortable and knowledgeable with computers, websites, and blogging within only a few months time if they’ll only dedicate a few hours a week to learning and experimenting with technology.

I don’t know where to begin.

I’m biased, but this blog is a darn good place to start. Then I’d go over to Hubspot and check out their incredible educational tools. Those guys are awesome and they really get the ‘big’ picture. Once you’re ready to start your blog, write down the 20 top questions you get from consumers. These questions will be the titles of your first 20 blog articles. Now start writing.

So those are my top 10 excuses for not having a business blog in 2010. What are some others you can think of? As always, your thoughts are invited and appreciated.

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