Ready for your deadly, blog-murdering tip of the day? If you want to know how to kill your business blog without lifting a finger, here it is: Don't lift a finger.
In other words, don't write. Don't write at all. Don't send out relevant, valuable content. Don't post. And your business blog will die a slow, sad, miserable death while causing all sorts of other collateral damage to your brand with its death throes.
Periodically you may see those awful, wince-inducing posts on business (and personal) blogs that say "Sorry for the recent lack of posts, we've been moving to a new location and blah blah blah, yada yada."
Here's the truth: no one cares if you've been snowed under with the paperwork for your recent entrepreneurial effort any more than they care that your dog has been ill or your trip to Cancun was rescheduled. It just isn't information your target market wants, and it isn't professional to whine -- or worse -- make promises you might not keep.
Yes! You should definitely take periodic breaks from your regular work and blogging routines (in fact, changing things up is a great way to generate fresh content ideas), but there are ways to manage those breaks and changes that keep your brand intact and don't cause the kind of audience irritation that an abandoned blog induces.
The truth is, every business leader is busy! We all get behind. We all need a shortcut once in a while. So here are several ideas for how you can continue to publish to your business website, even if you aren't able to maintain your regular writing schedule.
1. Post some photos
You probably have some interesting photos of people using your product (hey, perhaps you could solicit some now for use in a later post!), your CEO's new puppy (cute is good), or even photos of this big office move that's causing your writing interruption. Post the pictures and let your target market in on things in a way you haven't before.
2. Create a video
Sometimes it's easier to sit down in front of a video camera and talk thorough a post idea than it is to write and edit the same post idea. Allow yourself a few takes to get the shortest, most concise video. If you have to, do the simplest of editing (title slide at the beginning would be enough) and upload it to YouTube, then embed it on your site.
3. Do a resource post
As a business leader you undoubtedly know plenty of great people, tools, sites, and other resources in your service area that would be beneficial to the people who regularly read your business blog. Pull a handful of those together, write a sentence or two about each, and click publish. Done and done, Cancun's waiting!
4. Invite a guest to post
You can even do this one in advance, and have a set of three or four of these waiting for those periods when you may need a break. Not only will you offer your readers a pleasant new way of thinking, you can give your guest author a nice backlink to their own site in the bio. Obviously this one takes a bit of planning to generate, upload, illustrate, tag and schedule your business blog writing for you.
5. Create a "Top Ten" post
Check your website analytics for the ten most popular posts on your business blog. Then publish a list of these posts with a short introductory paragraph, and you're done! Depending on the verticals in your business, you might be able to prepare several of these on short notice so that you can fill a several-post vacation.
In other words, not being able to find enough time or brainpower to write insightful, provocative posts for a while is really not the end of the world. Everyone hits a slump or gets overwhelmed once in a while. There are creative ways around it that will protect your brand from erosion and keep the customer satisfied.
The Number One Way to Kill Your Business Blog
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