Looking in the mirror. What does your blog say to potential clients?

August 11, 2008 · Filed Under Blogging

Reflection to the world
Photo by oceanflynn
I might as well state the obvious - - I am new at blogging, at least as it relates to business. I know I know, it’s the number of posts that gave it away. I said it was obvious. I’m also anal – I like to do things right the first time out of the gate. But there are so many ins and outs to blogging that it’s hard to get it right from the get go. There’s no standard blogging handbook that says Thou Shalt [just fill in the blank]. Everyone has a different opinion of what you should and shouldn’t do.

So my classroom is the window of observation. I observe those that appear to be successful, those I follow due to great content, and those that I stumble upon when doing research. Which brings me to today’s subject – how often do you blog and how does that reflect on your business?

Late last night I was surfing Virtual Assistants Forums, great place by the way to hang-out if you are a virtual assistant. I was searching for resources that would enhance my services to clients. I found a post discussing on-line white boards.

My first thought was what a great application to apply when mind mapping. I love mind mapping, although I haven’t developed my skills to the point of sharing my maps just yet, I truly enjoy doing it. And, the on-line white board would be another great application to use for problem solving – following Dan Roam’s Back of the Napkin. I digressed for a moment, back to the issue.

The white board site was created for team collaboration or single use. The features looked great and I noticed that they had a blog. Fantastic, I definitely wanted to see where they are going with development and how they resolve issues. When I research tools and resources for my business and clients, I look at multiple angles. The bottom line is that it must be stable and reliable.

I clicked the blog link and noticed the last post date, February 1, 2008. Hmmm, that’s been a while. I looked for a more current post. Unfortunately, there wasn’t one. I then checked their feedback section. While comments were still being posted, it appears that responses ended in April 2008 and issues were still unresolved.

Not belaboring the sites downfalls, it honestly looks like a great product. I imagine that the cost to host such a free site would be taxing on a small company. However, based on the status of the blog, it wouldn’t be something that I would entrust using to collaborate with clients.

There are posts daily discussing the frequency bloggers should post. Opinions vary from multiple times a day for probloggers to once or twice a week or even a month for those blogging for business. With the number of blogs growing daily, quality over quantity should reign. But what about the infrequency of blogging – what is too little and in the particular whiteboard’s case too late.

For entrepreneurs, especially those in e-commerce, you blog to your existing clients and to attract potential clients. It’s a marketing tool, right? The posts or lack thereof reflect on the outcome of your marketing. I’ve noticed several business blogs that start off with fire and intensity only to abruptly end. Not a positive reflection on any business.

The Point

(and what I am setting as my goal) is to write and build quality content – have your blog reflect on your business in a professional manner – post frequently enough that readers know that you’re still open for business but not so frequently that posts no longer have quality or merit.

Seth God’s wrote an addendum to his post The noisy tragedy of the blog commons