I took a break from posting to the blog for a couple weeks. I know…you’ve been biting your nails in anticipation. You’ve been wondering where my words have wisdom have gone. How could I put you through this? Your nerves have been so wracked by the absence of my blog posts, that you’ve probably even started smoking again, haven’t you? Sorry about that.
It’s not that I haven’t been working. In fact, that’s kind of the point of this post…I HAVE been working, but conventional wisdom could have you convinced that I’ve been being a slacker.
While I’ve been “taking it easy”, I took on a few new consulting clients. I also wrote articles about;
- How to generate leads
- Relationship marketing
- How to make sales
- …and some other successful business ideas
I also wrote a guest post on Blog for Profit about whether your blog will fail or not.
I did a webinar and a radio show, and I also redesigned the blog, got an awesome consult from blog consultant Michael Martine and have set several more tweaks to the site in motion.
So, what do I do when I don’t blog? I blog 🙂
Are you wasting your time?
I would wager you’re busy generating awesome content in your business as well…whether you’re running a blog or not. You’re talking to people, giving presentations, responding to inquiries, etc…this is all content. Do you realize this? As a small business owner, it’s not really a question of whether or not you’re creating content, because you are. The question is whether or not you’re leveraging your content. If you’re not leveraging your content, you’re wasting your time, because you’re doing the work, but you’re not reaping the maximum benefit.
As Marcelus Wallace said to Butch in Pulp Fiction…”Now that’s a hard motherf*ckin’ fact of life, but it’s a fact of life your ass is gonna have to get realistic about. ”
Bottom line: leverage rocks; it puts the work you do to it’s highest and best use, and BLOGGING is a simple discipline that enables you to ensure your work has maximum impact. That’s why I’m a blogging advocate. Blogging is leverage, and us small biz owners need all we can get.
A myth that needs addressed (so you can feel good and be more effective)
While I took this two week “break” from blogging, I noticed my traffic went down 50%. Dude. My first reaction was to be upset, and then about two seconds later I realized two things:
- I’ve taken on MORE business, not less in the past two weeks.
- As soon as I get “back to normal” on the blog posts, traffic will go back. It’s really not an issue.
There are times of reaping and times of harvest. I guess I’ve been harvesting. Does a farmer get upset after a harvest, when he looks out at his field and sees nothing but dirt? Nah, he feels great, because he’s taken care of business. So should you. It’s easy to look at your analytics and get upset sometimes. We all do it. I get calls from clients in a panic about this. They want to know why their numbers aren’t where they think they should be. Know two things:
- Your numbers really can be anything you want them to be. There’s a business model for anything. Let’s just sit down and put a plan together. You’ll get the numbers. I swear…it’s as simple as putting together a smart plan and executing it.
- It’s important (for both your business and your sanity) to know WHY you want those numbers in the first place. Does traffic, for example, directly translate to your income? Know your business. There is no substitute for that. In the example I’m giving in this post today…notice that my traffic is down, but business is good. Numbers can be misleading.
Where does your business come from? What role does your blog play in your business? What real effect do the analytics you’re tracking (traffic, SEO, inbound links, twitter followers, etc, etc) have on your revenue? If you don’t know, we can definitely work through some of these issues together, so you can have some insight. One way or another, these are questions that MUST be answered. This is how you have both peace of mind AND results in your business. And yes, it is totally, totally possible to have both.
After all, having a blog is a great thing, but it’s not a strategy. The strategy (and the awesome benefits) come from how you use it. Seriously, sit down and ask yourself the questions I pose to you in this post. Fire me an email or hit me up on Twitter if you have questions as you work through it. It will pay you big dividends.