Blog and your path to success is clear. Look at all the people who started blogs and now have 6 figure book deals and fame and fortune… and of course, happiness.
This is the kind of advice you may have heard, and the kind of results you may have seen. And it is true. Bloggers get amazing results, sometimes completely unexpectedly.
But as a small business owner your time is your most valuable asset. You don’t want to waste it when you could be working with customers and bringing in cold hard cash.
You may also be wondering whether you have anything important and special to talk about. Or whether anyone will read what you are writing. The costs may be low but the price could be high. In short it is something you could talk yourself out of doing.
So let’s look at what a blog could do for you, and your business before we answer the blogging version of Hamlet’s question.
A blog makes sense of your social media activity.
An update that intrigues the reader and then leads them to your blog to find out more is worth its weight in gold. Sure, you may take a photo of your cup of coffee or circulate a video of sleeping cats but if that is all you do, you won’t help your business to grow. You will never own your profile or page on twitter, facebook or Linked In but you can own your blog.
A blog lets you be more conversational and really speak to your clients.
The tone is different from a corporate website so you can claim your audience and let them know you understand them. This helps them feel you are the person for them, and encourages them to take the next action.
Your blog can help you bring more meaning to your world.
With a small business it is easy to let the doing take over. When you have a regular commitment to writing a blog post it helps you to reflect and identify the patterns of behaviour you experience.
When this is coupled with the knowledge that you have helped other people, you can gain immense satisfaction as well.
A blog can help you move closer to your goals.
With your goal (or intention) in mind, you can create the path to success by using the blog as a bridge. Whether you want a book deal, to speak on stage, to reach a lot more new people or simply to be the person you always wanted to be, your blog can get you closer. The journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step and each of your steps can be recorded on your blog.
So what is the answer to the question that Hamlet asked?
It was whether it was nobler to just put up with injustice and not contribute, or to get involved and hope to end it.
Your blog gives you a chance to speak out against what is wrong and help people. So the choice is yours – to do less and not blog, or to blog?