Could Your Blog be Ruining Your Business?

image of sign saying Business Closed

Many of you began blogging to get more business. I’m sorry to tell you that many of you are doing the exact opposite.

Your blog isn’t getting you more business — it’s actually sending business away.

How did that happen?

A blog is supposed to create more interest in what you do or what you sell. It’s supposed to bring you more credibility, more readers. It’s supposed to show off your expertise. All that should be great for business. Where did it all go wrong?

You forgot that you have a business first and a blog second.

What do you do for business?

You’d be shocked at how many blogs don’t have an answer to the question, “What do you do?” readily available. The blog itself has a clearly defined subject, lots of rockin’ content, and plenty of people commenting on posts.

That’s all great, but the whole point of having a business blog was to get people interested in the product or service you sell. And that information often isn’t easy to find. Sometimes, it isn’t anywhere to be seen.

It’s not in your tagline. It’s not in your About section. It’s not in a big shiny button where site visitors can’t possibly miss it.

You may have fifty million visitors a day. But if very few of them have any idea that your blog is there for more than providing them with free information and entertainment, your blog is ruining your business.

Let me restate the obvious: you are business blogging. That means your awesome content must be delivered in the context of your business goals.

Remind me again: what do you do?

Let’s say that some new guy shows up on your blog. Maybe he got the link from a friend on Twitter, or maybe he was just goofing around on Google. He reads your post. He likes it.

He leaves.

It’s simple: he got what he came for. He found your post and read it. He may also need the services you provide. In fact, there’s a very good chance he does, because he was looking for information within your expertise. If he showed up wanting to know about 10 ways to prevent a bad stain job, and you provide wood staining services, he may very well want to chuck the idea of doing it himself and hire you instead.

But he didn’t arrive at your blog looking for someone to hire. He came for the information. And he got it.

Very often, people don’t see what’s obvious to you. You know you’re blogging for business. You know that you’re for hire. But that site visitor? He doesn’t think of that at all. You have to put the idea in his head.

And a very, very good place to do that is at the end of that useful post he just read. Finish every single post with a little nudge toward hiring you. “If you’ve got a project too delicate for you to screw up, contact me today. I’ll quote you on a perfect, professional job — no screw-ups, guaranteed.”

Your readers come around for your advice and your insight, and that’s great for your blog. But if you don’t remind them regularly that you have something more to offer than just information, they won’t think of hiring or buying from you.

And that is really, really lousy for your business.

Go make sure your blog readers know what you do for business. Three times over.

About the Author: For more great tips and an insightful blog on freelancing, head on over to Men with Pens, where you’ll get all the success advice you need. And guess what? You can even hire the team to help you rock your business to success.