By: Britt Brouse

The Top 10 Lamest Excuses for an Inconsistent Blogging StrategyBlogging can benefit businesses of all sizes with increased search traffic, more indexed pages, higher search result rankings, and increased lead generation and conversion.  Blog content also lends your company greater credibility, by positioning blog authors as experts.

Yet, the only way for marketers to truly reap the benefits of blogging is to update the blog consistently (at least weekly) with rich content.

Many businesses miss out on blogging’s benefits because they are not actively updating their content.  I’ve heard just about every lame excuse out there for not blogging consistently. Below I will count down the top 10 lamest excuses for not blogging consistently and provide a rebuttal for each excuse.

Lame Excuse #10:  “I don’t have the time.”
Yes I know we’re all busy, but this is an empty excuse. There are myriad ways to save time, such as assigning blog posts company wide or working with a professional blogger. One special tip is to have an outside blogger conduct blog interviews with experts at your company and then write up blog posts using that content and paying special attention to the expert’s voice.

Lame Excuse #9: “I can’t think of anything to write about.”
Take your top keywords and phrases and set up RSS feeds, bookmarks on sites like Delicious.com and trigger Google alerts around those words. This will generate a constant stream of new ideas, blog posts and articles to write about. Google blog search and Twitter Search are two more useful tools to find out what people are talking about in your industry and blog about those topics.

Lame Excuse #8: “Nobody cares what I have to say”
Actually, Google cares what you have to say. Google treats every blog post like a new page on your website. Every post you write can be SEO optimized for keywords and links. The more you blog, the more content Google indexes and the better your search traffic and page rankings become. Also, the more you blog around targeted keywords, the more likely it is for qualified leads to find your site.

Lame Excuse #7: “I am not the right person at the company to be blogging.”
If you are not the best voice or personality at your company to be blogging, then go after the right person. Look in every department or silo, for those extroverts and social media savants who have a lot to say about the industry or their role at the company. Incentivize these people to blog with contests where whoever gets the most traffic or comments on a post wins a reward.

Lame Excuse #6: “I’ve never been a great writer.”
Blogging is conversational. The best bloggers write in their own voice. Pick a topic and pretend you are writing an email to a client about a new development in your industry. This will help you find the perfect business casual voice.

Lame Excuse #5: “I don’t want to invite negative comments.”
Use some comment judo and turn a negative comment into a public positive. Usually the negative blog comments, where a reader respectfully disagrees with your post, are the ones that spark the interesting and productive conversations. A debate happening in your blog comments will gain you new followers and traffic.  A negative comment is simply another opportunity to position your organization and reinforce your brand values.

Lame Excuse #4: “I work in a highly regulated industry.”
That’s no excuse. There are financial services, insurance and other highly regulated companies out there blogging right now. Get on the phone to your legal contacts and find out if there are any parameters for blogging. See if legal will vet new blog posts before they go live. Finally, develop a boilerplate disclaimer to tack on the end of each post to cover any liability concerns.

Lame Excuse #3: “My customers don’t read blogs.”
I’d venture to guess your target audience DOES read blogs.  If they are online, they are likely consuming content–often in the form of a blog. Blogs are no longer for tech geeks. They are now a widely read and trusted source for news and opinions. By tying in social media marketing to your blog strategy, you can post blog updates on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to reach your target audience where they live online.

Lame Excuse #2: “I don’t know how to get started.”
There are so many tips and how-to’s out there for starting a blog. Many blogging platforms have free or low cost versions and user-friendly set ups.  If you want to blog but don’t know how to get started, broach the subject with your web hosting company. This way you can integrate the blog into your existing website to better capitalize on blogging’s SEO benefits.

The #1 Lamest Excuse: “What’s a blog?”
When I hear this question, I am tempted to welcome the person to the year 2001, but sarcasm really doesn’t get you anywhere. So here’s a straight answer:

http://instantpaysites.blogatize.net