What’s that smell you can’t seem to pinpoint? It’s your blog – it stinks. It’s not effective. Having a blog has a lot of similarities to a company’s social media efforts. 
So many do it because somebody told them it needed to be done. Don’t even bother with it if you aren’t going to do it right. Here are a few problems you should avoid to get that stench off your blogging efforts.
• The people you want to read your blog aren’t reading it. This is a pretty simple solution. You aren’t writing for the correct audience. You are writing about the pizza party from last Friday or introducing the cool new piece of equipment that is definitely going to make your company more efficient. The problem with this is there is no substantial information your prospective clients can use. We aren’t saying you can’t sprinkle in some light-hearted stories every now and then. What we are saying is that you need to provide a little meat on the bone that clients can actually use. Write about topics that clients care about. You need to figure out a way to convey the fact that your business can solve real-life business challenges.
• There’s no definitive plan. You spend all of your time trying to solve and create strategic plans for your clients. Are you doing the same for your own business. Are you planning out your own content ideas through blogging and social media. Do you even have a plan or are you just winging it?
• What’s the end game? Do you communicate the next step to potential clients? Are you just soliciting people to call you because you think you are the best? Have you provided enough information that will convince a client to contact you? You need to think of your blog as a sales tool. It can be entertaining, but also needs to be taken seriously.
• You aren’t fooling anybody with “buzzwords” Stop trying to sound like the smartest guy in the room. Nobody is falling for it. Quit talking about “growth hacking” or “actionable insights.” These buzzwords are exactly the same as cliches. They are used when people want to dance around actual productive and original thoughts. They impede your real communication with customers and more times than not make you look less professional.
The bottom line is if your blog stinks – STOP! Stop and refocus your efforts. A little planning and strategy can go a long way. Would you recommend your blogging efforts to a client? If the answer is no, then just stop. Take your blog serious and you could come up smelling like roses.