Should Every Business Have A Blog?




I was in high school when I overheard the TV in the background refer to something as a "blog".


I was like, “What in the hell is a blog? That name already sounds like it’s doomed.”


Boy, was I all sorts of wrong on that one.


To get all nerdy on you, the term blog was officially coined in 1999 when Programmer Peter Merholz shortened the term “Weblog” to blog. (Feel smarter already, don’t you?)


Cut to now—there are more than 600 million blogs. Now that’s a whole lotta writing on the Interwebs right there.



If you’re a business owner, you might have heard everyone and their sweet mother, aunt, and distant cousins tell you that having a blog for your business is evvveerrryyyythiiiing (in their most exaggerated voice of course).


So, I bet you’re wondering if they’re right...should your business have a blog? 


Asking this question—to me—is a no-brainer.


Now, it’s not my style to tell people what to do (unless you’re my husband and I’m in major need of dark chocolate).


But, I will point out some highly qualified reasons why a blog could totally benefit your business and let you decide from there.


After all, it’s your business and YOU get to decide how you wanna run the damn thang.




Should Every Business Have a Blog?



Here are four reasons you might want to consider a blog for your business. 



#1—You Own the Damn Thing


Ever heard of the concept of renting versus owning? (I know you have).


Now, I’m not ALL in favor of strictly owning (I’m a gypsy of sorts, y’all), but when it comes to your online real estate, you better own your shit.


Social media's all the rage, right? Well, it can be. People and their thumbs are ready to go numb scrolling.


But, what happens when Mr. Z (Mark Zuckerberg that is) changes the algorithm (which happens more than we business owners would like)?


That’s right, your organic reach usually goes down and all that time and energy you placed into social media (and not your website or blog) goes up in a cloud of algorithm smoke. Poof!


When you blog on YOUR website, you literally own that piece of online land. You own your website and ALL that goes in it.


Now, I’m not saying throw all of your social media out the window.


Just don’t place every ounce of your content in the houses that others (like Mr. Z) have built. Spread the love to your website and newsletter as well (the online real estate you actually own). 



#2—Your Blog Brings all the Boys to the Yard 


You built (and paid a pretty penny) for your beautiful website front, and now, nobody’s looking at it.


What the? Nobody likes the sound of virtual crickets.


Here’s the deal, Google LOVES content-rich websites that are full of answers and solutions and all things a human can Google.


And a blog is super handy for that reason and helps to drive traffic to your website. 


The more you blog and build quality content on your website, the more people can find you—organically—through search engines like Google.


The longer your ideal customer stays on your website and gets to know you, and decides they kinda like you, they are more likely to buy from you (milkshakes included).



#3—Get On the Stage 


Leather pants not required (but could be useful, I mean, look at Jon Bon Jovi).


If being a business owner makes you a rock star then what stage are you going to perform on? Your virtual website stage, of course!


When you consistently blog and create content that is useful for your audience, people get to know you.


They get to know your opinions, your brand voice (how you speak in your writing), how you deliver content—and over time—they get to decide if what they are consuming is something they want to continue doing or not.


By stepping up to your virtual stage, you get to showcase your talents and resources for your audience, and that is how you get to create groupies and raving fans or those that say, “Nah, not for me” (and that is completely ok because you want an audience that’ll wait in the rain for you, versus a fair-weather fan).



#4—A Blog Solves Problems 


Why do you have a business in the first place? To solve a problem, correct? To help someone achieve or buy something that could benefit them in some way. A blog does the same thing.


If you’re a doctor wanting to build your practice, or a photographer wanting to showcase your mad skills—having a blog to point your patients or customers to is invaluable.


If you’re the doctor, write about the problems your patients come to see you for. If you can, offer a solution or point them in a direction that’s helpful on the blog, and use the blog as a reference for patients with similar problems.


If you’re a photographer, write about the process it took to shoot certain pictures (what camera you used, the angles you chose and why and what homework you did to make that day/shoot happen).


Let people into your world and they might just keep “following” you around.


You don’t have to be an “expert”—just showcase the knowledge you do have and if that can help someone…even better! 



Things to Ponder Moving Forward

  • If I choose to have a business blog, who will write it (Marketing department? Hire a content writer? You’ve been dreaming of writing a blog for your business forever?)


  • How often will I blog (Daily/weekly/monthly?)


  • And how practical is that number?


  • And how will you accomplish this blogging goal?


  • What topics will I blog about?


  • How will I distribute the blog (Newsletter? Social Media?)


  • Are aliens real? 👽Hmmmmmm.




Whether you decide a blog for your business is worth implementing or not, keep in mind that quality content is better than no content.



If you can’t keep a schedule of once-a-week posting, try bi-weekly or at least once a month to start out with.


Over time, you’ll start to flush out the kinks and get a clearer picture of this whole blogging thing.


And if you don’t think blogging is right for your business, or you don’t have the time to implement content at this point – start where you are, keep showing up and know that you are doing a helluva job, my friend! For real.





Love + Loving The Word Blog, 

Keli

By Keli Conci 11 Jan, 2023
When Gracie Comes A Knockin' I'm not a great patient. I'm really not. So when my Hubs nervously says to me, "I think you have a brain tumor," I laugh. Hysterically busting a gut in his gorgeous, blue-eyed face. "A what?!" I shockingly remarked as I lay in bed for the 3rd week straight from what I thought was an ongoing "pressure" headache. A very long "pressure" headache that happened to a woman who rarely ever had so much as a "regular" headache in her entire life. I thought my Hubs was talking gibberish. Brain tumor. Hilarious. How could a healthy 39-year-old woman such as myself have a brain tumor? Preposterous, I say! Do you have a brain tumor, sir? Looking back, however, I can kind of understand where he was coming from. Ever since Christmas (which I didn't attend because of this "pressure" headache), I wasn't myself. For the next week or two I was self/or friend diagnosed with either vertigo, sinus congestion, and some other oddities I won't even mention. I thought I could "tough" my way through it; I'll get better. This is ridiculous, I thought, to still be suffering from some crazy-ass head thing. It wasn't until I was going into week 3 that I got concerned: I wasn't better; I was fucking worse. Like way worse. So much more worse. I couldn't sleep at night and I recall telling my Hubs, "My head hurts so bad I think I'd feel better if I blew my brains out." That's how in pain I was. The pain got so gnarly I notified my Hubs that we have to go to an Urgent Care pronto. I could barely sleep, all the OTC medicine I was taking wasn't working anymore, the holistic concoctions and potions weren't even touching my pain and any light felt like my eyeballs were being stabbed by tiny daggers. As I lay on the Urgent Care table, with my eyes closed due to the piercing brightness, I spewed my symptoms to the nurse and doctor. Eventually, the doctor told me my labs showed I had a UTI. "A UTI!" I screamed in my head. You've got to be kidding me. I know my body and this isn't a UTI. Apparently, I wore that same expression on my face because she quickly responded. Doc said I'd be shocked at what a UTI can do to the body. I laughed her off and wanted to believe her, but knew something deeper was going on and a UTI wasn't the answer. We were sent home with a sympathetic look, a prescription for antibiotics, and a "check-up with your doctor, sweetie" send-off. The days that followed only got more painful; more dreadful. Four days later—by Thursday afternoon—I began puking. And that is the last thing I recall. Let's name this the fade-to-black scene, mmmmkkkay? The puking scared me, but it also scared the shit out of my Hubs. He had been wanting me to go to the hospital and I stubbornly refused (like I said I'm not a great patient)...over and over and over again. I was incoherent and unable to make any decisions at that time. The Hubs tried his best to get me hydrated and ready to take me to the ER. At that point, I was no longer able to tell him, "no". When he called our neighbor to help him heave-hoe me in the car for the ER (I was like a sack of 120-pound potatoes), I began having a seizure. Our neighbor was there at that moment and told Hubs this just turned into a 911 emergency as he called for help. The paramedics arrived; I was assessed, stabilized, and then taken to the ER via ambulance. At the local hospital, they found a brain anomaly. I was then sent via flight-for-life to another hospital and underwent a 5-and-1/2-hour brain surgery to remove all of (what we came to know) a 6-centimeter (think egg-size) Grade IV Glioblastoma brain cancer tumor (whom I affectionately call "Gracie"). Yep, when I do things, I do them big. That whoppin' glioblastoma was in my left frontal lobe and had amassed such a large field in my brain that when it shifted to the midline of my brain (or something along those lines), that's when I had a seizure (and also when a part of my right peripheral visual field was cut off). The tumor was a honker and clearly explained everything I had been experiencing physically—up to that moment. Turns out, this almost 39-year-old "healthy" chick, indeed, had a brain tumor. The Hubs was absolutely right, damn it. Medical Turban *Photo heads up! There are two pictures coming up that show my incision from my surgery. If that doesn't float well with you—please skip this part.* If my last memory was puking, when did I wake up from my own abyss? 27+ hours later to be exact. At that moment, I felt my eyeballs squinting as I noticed I was in an ICU bed and feeling what I like to call a "medical turban" wrapped around my gourd as medical professionals walk by in shock that I'm awake. My head feels like a soft pillow. Is this some kind of weird heaven, I ponder? God sure is hilarious if he has a hospital up in the sky. Turns out, it was Earth. And my head felt so much better. Hence the medical turban.
By Keli Conci 07 Jan, 2020
Grief⏤The Ultimate Permission Giver I thought I was losing my mind after my Pop’s died . No joke. I began to think the dementia that finally ravaged his brain, was about to do the same to mine. I couldn’t think straight, literally. My short-term memory was shot. Which sent me down the Google rabbit hole where I found helpful articles that explain how grief is not just processed emotionally and spiritually; it’s processed physically as well . Lightbulb moment; that makes total fucking sense, I thought! I didn’t question my sanity after that. Instead, I got really intentional about taking care of myself and my grief. Post-Physical Grief Revelation What unfolded after that has been interesting because grief became the ultimate permission-giver to say “no”. Because grief left me feeling depleted of almost everything⏤mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically⏤I gave zero f*cks in life. With not much left in my tank⏤if you’re not my husband, daughter, or client⏤I rarely have anything left over to give. Protecting my energy has become a full-time job. It’s made me say “no” to just about everything outside of my family, house and work. It’s made me say “yes” to everything that helps my world feel, well, soft and not so dreary. And, damn, it feels so good. Which makes me question... Why did grief have to give me the permission to say “no” to whatever I wanted to say “no” to? Why couldn’t I have those boundaries without having to lose my favorite person in the whole world? Grief⏤The Ultimate Permission Giver So, what does that actually look like? You know, saying “no” when you want to and saying “yes” when you want to. Being all congruent and aligned in life. If it’s hard for you to place boundaries or say “no” when all you do is say “yes”⏤here are some examples of how I laid the grief/boundary smackdown. Listen to your body. Bloody hell, if you’re tired, be tired. Your grief body needs all the help it can get. Reschedule, cancel, leave the party, get in bed while the sun’s still up to tend to your tired. I went to Scottsdale, AZ for a business trip and stayed in this magnificent, swanky-ass resort. After the conference, I passed out at 6:30pm and never really took in the beautiful place we were in. That’s more than okay. I woke up refreshed and my body and brain were happy I did just that. Be brutally honest with yourself and others. Now that I know tending to my grief-self is #1 priority for me, I have very uncomfortable conversations with family, friends and even strangers. I decline gatherings and invitations constantly (including holidays, birthdays and celebrations), or give the caveat I may not stay too long and tell people up front: In my grief process, currently, I get overwhelmed super easily, so if I do come to your shindig, don’t be surprised if I leave early. I’ve ordered the wrong milk in a café and told the barista, “Sorry, my dad died recently and I’m completely out of it.” When my family or close friends ask how I’m doing, my usual response is, “I’m here. You know, just feeling like my left arm is cut off and I don’t know where it is.” The pre-grief Keli was a jovial little bitch and her remarks would have been, “Great!! How are you?” Grief and death are subjects people can get squirrely with. My honest response is to honor my journey…whether that makes you comfortable or not. And of course, I think these topics should be discussed more in life because they can be lonely and isolating if you don’t talk about them. I fumble constantly but give myself GRACE. Here’s where I fumble⏤when I think I can say “yes” to something (in the moment) but when the time comes, I actually don’t have it in me to do the thing I said “yes” to. I’ve had to say “no” at the last minute to my very best friend more times in the last couple of months than I ever have in our lifelong friendship. I forget to tell people the stipulation: “This sounds like a 'yes' to me right now, but let’s revisit this when the time gets closer.” In December alone⏤the month of my Pop’s and Hub’s birthday, along with the holidays⏤we ate out constantly. Not something we do consistently, but I gave myself grace to not cook and get through this hectic month as sane as possible. So, perhaps, if you blow at boundaries, or want to get more aligned with how you show up in the world and where you place your energy⏤ don’t wait for grief to give you permission⏤do it now, yo! And get to flexin’ those boundary muscles. Love + Big-Ass Boundary Grief Lessons, Keli Psst…Grief-life is a giant mirror for your friendships and relationships in life. It’s a brutal process to watch someone grieve. It’s also a beautiful process to be in the thick of it with them. Also, if you don’t have a robe (it’s like you’re constantly wearing a warm hug), get yo’ass to a Target ASAP. I basically live in this wardrobe now.
By Keli Conci 05 Sep, 2019
It's Never Goodbye, It's Only So Long ďťż My pops… The guy I talk (write) about all the time. The dude who I said has the number one spot in my heart (even my hubs knew his ranking). The man whose humor surpasses any comedian I’ve ever watched. And who rocked a raging case of CRS/Alzheimer’s like no other… Went tits up recently (Vic’s words for anyone who died was “tits up!”). I had the privilege of honoring who he was in life and writing his obituary, which I knew could have absolutely NO pretense in or around it! Here’s to The Vic, my pops, for showing me how to live a life with just enough grace, heaping compassion and a fuck-ton of laughter.
Keep on readin'
Share by: