This article was originally a report published for Intertainment Media’s Ingaged Blog, makers and distributors of the KNCTR and Ortsbo.
If you’re a walking talking human being, at one point you’ve thought about starting a blog. Some of us pulled the trigger and are actually blogging. Others haven’t as they immediately think of an excuse not to do it. While it’s perfectly OK not to blog if you don’t wish to do it. It’s not OK if you want to blog yet come up with a number of excuses not to do it.
Below are the most common reasons most people don’t blog along with the argument for why that’s no longer an excuse.
Excuse #1: “It’s too hard”
If you know how to use a word processor and you write emails, then you pretty much have all the skills you need to write a blog. Getting good at it takes time just like it took time for you to be a good writer.
Excuse #2: “I can’t write”
This could possibly be the case. Not everyone is a good writer. But, you can probably talk. If that’s the case, you can still do video blogging or a podcast. That’s still considered blogging. And if you actually want words on the page you could pay a transcription service, such as SpeakerText which creates a very cool searchable and social media shareable caption box. If you do choose to podcast or video blog it’s still important to have text on your page because that’s how your content becomes discoverable by search engines.
If you truly don’t think you’re a good writer, the only way you’ll get better is if you actually start writing. Face your fear head on. The more you write, the better you’ll get. Just remember to allow yourself to suck at the beginning.
Excuse #3: “I don’t know what to write”
We all get writer’s block, but here are some suggestions on how to come up with ideas:
- Look through your past email and see if there is a good discussion or a long explanation that would be a good blog post.
- Something you read in a trade paper for which you have a strong opinion.
- An interesting conversation you had with a colleague.
- An interesting session at a conference or trade show.
- Common questions people have about your business for which you have no explanatory collateral.
Excuse #4: I don’t have any time
This is the most common excuse I hear. It’s usually followed by “who has the time to blog?” I argue that it’s not a situation of creating more time, but rather using your time more efficiently. Or rather taking your existing private communications and making it public. For example, copy that long email you wrote explaining something key in your industry and paste it into your blog. If one person was interested in the topic, chances are there are more people interested and they will find it naturally via search, and share it via social media. More importantly, next time someone asks you about that issue you will just point them to the blog post instead of writing another long email, thus saving you time. For more, read “Blogging Advice for People Who ‘Have No Time to Blog.'”
Excuse #5: I’m a private person
Just having a blog doesn’t mean you’re egotistical. But if you truly are a private person that wants your information to only go out to a select number of people you can actually create a private blog. My wife and I actually have a password protected blog of pictures and videos of our son for which only two people read, my mother and her mother.
Excuse #6: There are better experts out there than me
There may be better experts out there, but those experts haven’t had the experiences you’ve had. And if you want to be considered an expert as well, it really helps if you blog.
Excuse #7: No one will read it
How many people read the emails you send out? One maybe two people? You probably spent most of your day writing emails that barely anyone reads. If five people read your blog you’re doing better than your emails.
Excuse #8: I’m not tech savvy enough
As mentioned at the beginning, tech savvy has long passed as a requirement for blogging. You really only need to know how to operate a word processor and that’s all the skill you need to blog. Plus, it’s costless. You can go to WordPress.com and be up and blogging in just minutes.
Excuse #9: Isn’t it enough that I’m on Facebook and Twitter?
While Facebook and Twitter are great, they’re not sufficient for any commentary longer than two sentences. Think of your blog as your home base for all your social media activity. Everything can launch and/or point to your blog. It’s truly the best way to build your industry presence. Also, social services will come and go, your blog will be the foundation that stays solid as social media tools trend away.
Excuse #10: I don’t see the ROI
Yes, it is extremely difficult to impossible to calculate the ROI before you start blogging, yet we know tons of examples of people and businesses that have become very successful because of their blog. In none of those cases did those people actually calculate their ROI before they started doing it. Also, not everything in your business requires an ROI calculation before you start actually doing it, as David Meerman Scott pointed out (read “Social Media Success Doesn’t Start with ROI”).
Enough with the excuses, start blogging
OK, you’ve read the excuses and probably recognized yourself in many of these. Stop making excuses and start blogging. Let us know how it goes.
Creative Commons photo attribution to John Barnabas Leith, kpwerker, and filipe ferreira.
