Most consultants know they should have a website. But I get asked all the time by those new to consulting whether or not they should have a blog.
My answer is yes, but with a couple of caveats.
If you’re going to start a blog make sure you have something to say. And be sure you can keep it up.
This advice goes for all companies…
There’s nothing worse than setting up a blog, connecting it to your website, posting a couple of articles…and then months go by and there’s no new content.
Certainly it’s not good for your image. Imagine a prospective client checking out your website, clicking on ‘Blog’ and then seeing that your last post was 6 months ago.
Ouch! That aint pretty.
Aight, so now we’ve explored the dark side of blogs and what you should consider before starting one.
But how about the positives, you ask? There are many:
1. Search Engine Love – Search engines such as Google love content from blogs. Especially when it comes out consistently. If you put up even a short post every couple of days or weeks your blog and therefore website traffic will climb.
2. You The Expert – You’re a pro right? Of course you are. Writing about your experience, sharing stories, consulting case studies, etc is a great way to demonstrate your expertise and become known as an authority.
3. Get Found – As you publish your posts you’ll start being found in the search engines by people looking for information on the topic you’ve written on. This is a great way to get contacted by potential consulting clients.
4. Easy to Get Started – Setting up a blog is eeeaasssy! Seriously. Even if you don’t have one technical bone in your body, you can pay someone through a service like Elance or oDesk to help you setup your blog. Yeah, it might cost you $100 but it’s worth it. You can also look at services like WordPress.org, WordPress.com and Posterous – which all make getting a blog setup a real snap.
5. No Genius Required – There’s a myth out there that you need to be a talented and prolific writer to have a blog. That’s definitely not the case. I was nowhere near an A+ student in writing during my school days. That didn’t stop me from writing advertisements and direct mail copy for billion dollar companies and that certainly hasn’t stopped me from blogging and writing for you.
As long as you can devout some time each week or so to writing a post for your blog the benefits far outweigh the risks.
If you’d like more information about blogs and blogging ask us in the comments below.