This week Karen Klein is addressing a pretty hot topic for small business people over at BusinessWeek Online: "Does your small business need a blog?" According to Technorati, she says, there are more than 39 million blogs out there, with an additional 75,000 being created per day. (Those are some mighty big numbers!)
Klein has taken the time to break her column down into two digestible parts. The first entry discusses the pros and cons of creating a blog for a small business. Later this week she'll teach you how to get started.
There are tons of links to applicable articles and resources, and good coverage of the pros and cons. However, SmallBizMentor must cast a vote that the pros far outweigh the cons.
For instance, commenting that posting entries to a blog is too time consuming does nothing to sway me. Yes, I know you're busy...but a short, personable entry in a blog each day can take mere minutes. For those that prefer longer posts, try pre-writing and breaking the essay down into shorter blocks that you schedule in advance for future post dates. (I know I do it here and several of my KMM colleagues do it as well. Handy feature!)
The key is frequent posting, not necessarily lengthy prose. Last year I had the honor of interviewing blog-her La Shawn Barber, and this is a point she drove home to me. There are ways to create a level of frequency, if you are properly using the technology available to you, that will allow you to build and audience and not place an unbearable strain on your time.
Just remember not to make a huge deal out of building a blog if you aren't truly committed to it. Your customers won't be thrilled if you barely bother with the blog, or shut it down a month after the big hoo-ha of a grand opening. Oh, and those personal touches are great, but let's refrain from giving out TMI, shall we?
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