Think Before Typing

Consider the risks as well as the rewards.

Here are some other factors to consider before you start blogging:

Blog posts are permanent. Once it’s posted, inaccurate, incomplete, defamatory content and confidential information will live forever on the Internet.

Blogs take time. Creating posts and monitoring content takes time, and internal blogs, in particular, can waste a lot of employees’ time.

Blogs can send visitors away from your site. In order to be friendly to search engines and the blogging community, blogs need to include links to other sites. However, if your blog is part of your company’s Web site, do you really want to send visitors away?

On the upside, creating a blog will increase your SEO rank, attract media attention and increase your leadership profile—especially if you’re among the first in your industry to have a blog. Beyond this, there are no guarantees of any benefits. The risks, on the other hand, are guaranteed.

Now that you know both the benefits and the risks, don’t create a blog unless your target demographic blogs regularly; you see one or more clear benefits; and you are willing to set and reinforce policy, educate employees and diligently monitor content.

The bottom line? Blogs are great tools for some businesses, and yours may be one of them. But if it’s not, don’t create a blog.

Jean Van Rensselar is the owner of Smart PR Communications, a Chicago-based company that specializes in public relations and communications strategy, creation and implementation.