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TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG

Some of our custom building and restoration clients have asked if they should publish a Blog on their website. They have heard that a Blog is one way to furnish the good written content needed to engage website Visitors and to get Search Engine referrals. To Blog or not to Blog, that is the question they ask.

Which got me thinking, what is a Blog anyway? I write one, but I wasn't sure of the exact definition, so I Googled it and found, "An online journal, periodically updated.".

So, two questions to ask before you commit yourself to producing an online Blog:

1. Do you have the time and inclination to come up with Blog posts at regular intervals?
2. Does your Visitor care? Does he have a good, compelling and selfish reason to read your Blog?

If the answer to either of these questions is "Maybe Not", then forget the Blog. For most custom building and restoration specialists, a website Projects Portfolio is easier to produce and more relevant to the Visitor. This is because the Projects Portfolio format more closely mimics the Real World exchange that happens between you and your client/prospect (or web Visitor). Such content is therefore natural for you to produce and for him to hear. Click here for tips on how to produce online Project Portfolios.

If the answer to both of the two questions above is, "Yes, absolutely," then a Blog should be part of your web content. You have both something to say and a Visitor who wants to hear it. If part of your business model is teaching or consulting, you may have produced lectures or white papers as part of a mission to educate the public. If so, you may be already be sitting on a trove of content which can be repurposed as Blog posts.

A lecture or a white paper, however, often presents a somewhat complex idea, developed by a series of supporting concepts. You may be able to break such a document up into a series of Blog posts. A Blog post must be simple and to the point to accommodate the impatient character of the web Visitor. Without making too much of a generalization, the web Visitor requires information to be clearly labeled and easily digested. So, stick to a single idea, keep it short and label it clearly and you will easily produce that are worth the Visitor's time to read and yours to produce.