Writing a Company Blog Can Bring You All… or Nothing

Created November 5, 2020

How many times have you visited the blog section within the website of a company that operates in a niche that interests you, either personally or for business reasons, and the page was last refreshed, for example, in March 2017?

Our experience says – quite often, but we understand the reasons for that very well: from the lack of time to the vague idea of what regular blogging can bring.

And, let’s not live in a lie – in the beginning, writing a blog will probably not bring you any results (unless it’s a current topic on which you clearly and loudly present your argument and position). It will require you to devote the time that you don’t have to something that will initially be read by a small number of people and that won’t bring you a clearly visible result at first. At least, not visibly.

Very often companies think that just figuring out how to build a website or designing a website like an expert is enough for the business to flourish. If it’s designed well, i.e. appealing at first glance, which of course is the goal of every brand when hiring a designer, it may seem that most of the job in attracting customers/users is done.

Wrong.

However, quality and consistency in this case can take you quite far. What are the benefits that blogging will bring and what would we advise those who want to develop this segment on the website? These are the questions you’ll get the answer below.

The Demand for Good Blogs Is Growing

This is especially true after the coronavirus mess (which, by the way, isn’t over yet). When we talk about why a small number of companies (speaking globally) pay attention to writing a blog, the pressure they have to say something new is what we see as the possible first reason why that occurs.

You’re thinking about writing some text because you have to use that space that the blog opens up to you and because it’s really important, but you have no idea what to say. And then you’re like – who’s going to get into that now so instead, you find “millions” of more important things, or whatever things, to do and put it off until you ultimately give up altogether.

On the other hand, when you go a step further and really decide to write something, then the questions follow – is it good enough, does it promote you in the maximum positive light, did you write something that someone will stick to and then thrash you on social media and the like?

And then again you feel the discomfort, and again you don’t do it, and you postpone it until you give up completely.

In this sense, one very interesting thing is noticed: a small percentage of people regularly read blogs, so companies are probably guided by the fact that no one reads such content anyway.

In fact, it’s true that more people would read it if they actually had something quality to read because foreign blogs are often not useful for the market related to a certain country, so they are only of an informative type for which visitors often don’t have time.

Surely you have gone to the websites of very successful companies that have their own blog section thinking that you’ll find something useful there but you come across archives of texts that already exist on every other website or have been there for months and sometimes years.

Companies simply don’t value blogs because they don’t get them from others. It’s a spell circle that can be broken when websites give others something they didn’t get. So many great things have started this way.

However, we believe that the situation will change in the near future. This whole mess with the COVID-19 around the world has contributed to people being much more engaged online, so the demand for a good “piece” of the blog has increased. The wise ones, we believe, will seize the moment, of course, if it’s important to them to create such a connection for potential clients/employees at all.

Most companies/agencies look at their digital communications only through conversions. How many clients can they expect if their senior spends a few hours into typing a blog?

Seen like that, writing blogs isn’t worth it. That time only pays off if the blog is seen as an integral part of the brand story and if you think about the details.

This is proven through blogs, podcasts, and various other public displays. By doing so, you persuade clients that in the long run, you want to attract the attention of those who think in a similar way. There are many other legitimate ways to position yourselves. If you don’t have a blog, that says something about you. Whether it says well or bad, it depends on your service, market, and competition.

Nothing in digital strategy is a must, so is a blog.

You’ve Decided, You Want to Write a Blog Post – So Now What?

The next step that bothers anyone who wants to dedicate themselves to the development of a company blog, and isn’t experienced in it, is how to choose a topic that’s interesting enough and current, and pack it in a certain format.

After all – how to define that process so that every future author could go through it without any problems? However, this isn’t so necessary – you don’t need to have such things on paper.

With many serious companies, it looks like this: when something significant happens, be it nice or not, it’s written about. The idea comes from many different sides through some daily happenings. It’s written about plans, about specific things they deal with, about goals, and about things they learn. They also write about things they see as important to the community, not just them.

When they have nothing to say, then they don’t write. They don’t have rules, they don’t define in advance whether it will be, say, one or two texts a month. They don’t just look at things that way.

Each blog is just an insight into which the introduction, explanation, and conclusion are glued. The primary task could and should be mining out insights for clients. All the processes push the employees in the companies we’re talking about to deconstruct each of their work and gain insight into which client’s brand will stand out in the market.

These insights are already communicated to colleagues through topics in internal Slack or similar communication groups, team presentations, and suggestions to the client. Without it, there’s no core business. From there, it’s only an additional step to write their insight, and that’s something that everyone who deals with communications must know.

A large number of topics impose themselves when some of the colleagues encounter a certain problem and, when they successfully solve it, they share it with everyone. This can create sections that, for example, are supplemented once a week with a new blog on how to do or solve something successfully.

In addition, topics that are important for the local market, and that would mean a lot for the companies themselves to come across them, are selected. Many blogs are based on an internal questionnaire that’s sent to employees and on the basis of which companies then express their opinion or experience with a topic.

For example, the topic “What are the advantages and disadvantages of working from home?” is quite important, but it isn’t valuable enough if you read it on a, say, American blog, because you may not have the same view of the situation in your country. It’s one of the blogs that can be created by the joint efforts of employees in one company.

Before publishing, each topic should go through a filter called “does anyone really need this?” and is it easy to read? If the answer to both questions is “YES” – then finesse like SEO writing and visuals are arranged, and the blog is ready.

What Specifically Can a Good Blog Bring You?

Despite all the above challenges that may come your way, the benefits of blogging are still huge, and one of the main things is a great database of educational texts. Such an attitude leads to the fact that as a company you send the image that you are really committed to education and the dissemination of knowledge – what your blog is like, your job is like, too.

Nothing is done just like that but has its purpose and goal. If you happen to really have nothing smart and valuable to write, always consider skipping the post for that week rather than writing whatever at any cost. The most important thing is that your content is meaningful, that it has to do with what you’re doing, and that you don’t “wander” too much with the choice of topics.

You can even find motivation and the right drive right in your own home. It may be dauting to start blogging from home but it is how most people get started in the content marketing space. 

How to know if your blogging paid off for you? The analytics will be the witness, showing you that the readership is increasing, which is a great confirmation for you as a team. And, if you do the job properly – honestly, without sugarcoating – writing a blog can bring you everything: some awesome people and a great position in the search engine results. It will also bring you the option that people who aren’t part of your company somehow see your company in the same way as you.

A Blog Shouldn’t Be Run by One Person or a Small Team, but by Everyone

Finally, what advice would we give to those who still don’t know if they need a blog or not and how to start running it?

First of all, it’s important to determine what’s behind such a desire to start a blog. Do you have something to say, so you’re looking for a communication channel, or do you think it’s simply awesome to have a blog, so you’ll find something to write about along the way?  If it’s the first scenario, then we don’t need to preach you anything – we think you are on the right track. If it’s the second reason, then don’t write a blog.

In doing so, don’t bother in blogs with things that are easily verifiable. If you build a foundation, it will come itself. If you have no basis, you’ll only increase the number of unpleasant silences in internal meetings. Focus on making sure everyone on the team understands why it’s important to write blogs in your company. They are written to practice the elaboration of insights, argumentation, and derivation of complex points to the end. They are written to be better consultants. After that, just let the leaders lead by personal example.

Additionally, perhaps the most important piece of advice you can get is to check before you start a blog if you really need it and if there’s anyone in the company who’d dedicate themselves to it. The biggest mistake we notice when creating the strategy itself for the blog is that it’s done exclusively by one person or one small team. Of course, this doesn’t apply to large corporations that have a precisely defined structure, but to those smaller companies that want the results of bigger corporations but are doing it with the wrong approach.

Lastly, as for the range of topics that your blog should cover – view the blog as an internal newspaper and forget about addressing someone outside the company. If you still have a clearly defined target group, and it’s quite different from those who are part of your team, then focus only on them.

Other Helpful Business Tips

Keep in mind that writing a company blog is just one step of the digital marketing process to speed your business’ success. There are many great tips for entrepreneurs and business owners and it is important to dive into multiple strategies rather than putting all your eggs in one basket. If you need ideas on other strategies to help boost your business, then shoot us an email and we can help identify the best strategies to help you move forward.