Just about all of us at one time or another has had to deal with rotten food.
In many cases, we leave something out too long or leave it in the fridge for an extended period of time; hence it soon takes on the junior high science project that many of us thought was cool back in the seventh grade.
In our adult years, however, such projects are not only viewed as unfavorable, but they can be costly when running a business.
Working in marketing full-time and doing freelance writing on the side, I literally come in contact with dozens and dozens of business blogs on a daily basis. The number one threat to their existence in my opinion is stale content.
When some business heads feel like the content is just there to fill space and show both current and potential customers that the site is active, I just want to come up to them and shake them for about five seconds. My main question as I am shaking them is what are you thinking? In many cases, they probably are not doing much of that in the first place.
What is the Purpose behind Business Blogs in the First Place?
Company blogs come in all shapes and sizes, be they for someone just beginning to run a business or someone whoâs been around the block a time or two. In many instances, the blog is used as a tool to attract current and potential customers to the site, and then provide them with worthwhile information that they can take away.
On the surface, that sounds like a great premise for having a blog in the first place. Where that becomes an issue is when the lead content is left to sit on the site for days and days and days andâ¦.
Soon, visitors coming to the site begin to see the same old and tired copy anchoring the site. Before long, what was once good content starts turning into that bagel or loaf of bread that was left sitting out on the counter for weeks and weeks. You get the picture, it isnât pretty.
As someone that has written and overseen a number of business blogs over the years, I cannot stress enough the importance of maintaining fresh content on the site.
Among the obvious reasons to do so:
- Search engines will be more favorable to your site if the content is regularly updated;
- Fresh content puts your company blog out there as an authority on a subject or subjects, singling you out from competitors;
- A continuously updated blog site makes it much easier to approach potential advertisers that will want to get their name linked to your site;
- With updated blog content, you can have real-time interaction with readers, leading to more opportunities to convert potential customers into customers.
One small business blog I recently came across, one which I will not name, was last updated in the fall of 2011. Last time I checked the calendar, we were coming up on the middle of March.
My first thought was maybe this company had gone under and the site was still showing up on Google searchers. As it turns out, the company sure is still business and looking for new clients as we speak. If I were consulting them, I would not advise them to start their sales pitch by referencing the siteâs blog.
I make it a habit to clean out my refrigerator once a week so that nothing can become a biology project behind that closed door.
Perhaps more business owners should take on a similar project to make sure their company blogs are not festering something nasty.
Remember, the time for conducting science projects was back in school, not when you are running a business.
Photo credit: marqui.com
Dave Thomas, who covers among other topics workers compensation and credit card processing, writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.
