Take my blog, please
“So, OK, maybe I don't know what I'm doing.”
I recently read this line in a blog written by a small business owner.
The blog goes on to include other demeaning things about this guy’s own business, albeit tongue and cheek. But even if he was the Rodney Dangerfield of the business blogosphere, I would argue that putting down your business or yourself is not a great way to garner faith in your product or service.
I know, I know, blogs are supposed to be more personal, allow you to let your guard down and get close with your customers and potential customers. But sometimes these online business diaries go horribly astray.
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| Orion Pictures / AP |
| Rodney Dangerfield is shown in this promotional movie still from the 1983 film "Easy Money." |
I’m probably setting myself up for a lot of criticism, since many of you will see this as a great opportunity to dog what I’m doing in this blog. But I’ll take my chances. You guys need help.
Here’s what I consider the top blog blunders:
* Don’t Dangerfield: It’s a bad idea to put yourself or your business down in your blog. I don’t care what people say, they don’t want to spend their hard-earned dollars on a product or service that may seem subpar in any way.
* Skip the Freudian slip: Be personal and funny. That’s a great thing. But don’t go overboard with your life’s saga. We don’t want to know if you just got divorced, or the details of your experiences on a singles’ cruise, or that your kid’s first tooth came in.
* No bore zone: I’d rather hear about your sexual escapades than be bored to tears by a list of the new customers you signed or dry financials. That’s not a blog. That’s a newsletter. Understand the difference once and for all.
* Missing in blog-tion: If you decide to take the blog plunge you actually have to write posts more often than once a month. Just having a blog Web site does not a blog make. People will know you’re a blog fraud, and it’s better to go blog-less than pretend.
* Bloggy double: One of my big pet peeves with blogs is when there isn’t one main blogger writing the thing. Blogs -- I know most of us forget this – are supposed to be online diaries or journals. They are not a free-for-all forum for every Tom, Dick and Harry at your company. That creates a blog with no strong voice. Without that, you won’t get people to keep visiting.
* Silence the CEO: There’s been this disturbing trend throughout the business world where the CEO writes the company's main blog. This is only a good idea if the CEO has a great personality and can write. This is rare. Trust me, I’ve interviewed hundreds of CEOs.
One honest small business owner, Donna Maria Coles Johnson, founder of Indie Business Media, shared some mistakes she made with her first blog: Not enough pictures, paragraphs were too long with no breaks and she didn't post regularly because she got bored.
She even provided me a link to her old, bad blog, and a link to her new one to see the difference.
Ahhh. Much better. Don’t ya think?
If you want to still be self-deprecating, at least hire a comedy writer.
Here’s how Dangerfield did it: “I could tell that my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio.”
