5 Most Devastating Small Business Blogging Mistakes
Everywhere you look, experts are recommending that small business owners blog to increase exposure and build their corporate brand. However, a blog can be a huge liability instead of an asset if you don’t handle it in the right manner. Here are the five most common and most devastating mistakes that small business bloggers make.
- Getting too personal. If you want a personal blog, create one—but don’t make your small business blog do double duty. Occasional tidbits about your personal life are fine if they are relevant to the topic at hand; in fact, they can increase interest and build reader loyalty if handled correctly. However, your blog should be full of relevant information related to your business and industry. In addition, avoid being excessively controversial or offensive. Many small business bloggers have lost their audience after one ill-thought-out post.
- Using a separate domain. There are so many advantages to hosting your blog on your small business website that I am constantly amazed at the success of Blogspot and other popular blogging domains. When you post on an outside website, you are forgoing the main benefits of blogging: keyword-rich content, internal links, and branding power. It is very easy to add and to maintain a blog on your website, so talk to a business website designer today if you haven’t already taken this step.
- Not achieving the right balance. We see this all the time: small business owners either become dedicated bloggers who ignore the other aspects of their company, or put off posting to the point that their site feels like a graveyard. Blogging should supplement your small business, but never interfere with it. If you are spending the majority of your time blogging, you have not reached the right level of balance. If, on the other hand, you blog only sporadically, you are unbalanced at the other end of the spectrum. Set a blogging schedule that makes sense for your business and stick to it—no more, no less.
- Diluting your keywords. One of the main benefits of a blog is that it can add keyword rich content to your website on a regular basis while also building your small business brand. However, a blog can dilute your keywords and your link profile by adding links and content that are not related to your business in any way—like your name. There is no magic button to fix this, but have a plan for increasing links and keywords relevant to your small business as the less helpful ones grow. A qualified and professional web designer can help you develop the right strategies for your small business.
- Using your blog as your homepage. Unless your business is blogging, your blog should be a button on your navigation bar—a side show instead of the main attraction. Your home page should be developed to attract relevant hits and turn visitors into conversions, not to share your opinions and advice. It’s tempting to put your blog front and center, as it is often the most recently updated and best-written portion of a website. However, this will be counterproductive because it will usually decrease conversions by distracting would-be customers.
