Laura’s Blog

My office phone jingled. “Blogging Bistro. This is Laura.”

“Hi. My name is Beth.* I own a local store.”

Long pause.

“I started a blog. But it’s… well… really ugly. And I hate writing it. But I know I need it. Do you write blogs? How much do you charge?”

I smiled. More than a few of the prospective clients who inquire about our services are reluctant bloggers. They attach a blog (usually a blogspot.com blog) to their Web site because someone told them to.

Beth told me that a business associate had advised her, “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.”

“Do you agree with that statement?” Beth asked.

No, I don’t.

I believe that a poorly done blog does more harm than good, particularly if you’re using it to promote your business.

• If you publish content that sounds as if a fourth grader wrote it, your customers won’t trust your professionalism.

• If you write one blog post and then abandon your blog, your customers won’t trust your reliability.

• If your blog stands out as the ugly duckling page on your Web site, your customers won’t trust your brand message. [Beth’s blog uses the default Blogger template, which is blah, compared to her colorful new Web site. But that’s an easy fix. All she needs to do is select a different template and customize the colors and fonts to match her Web site.]

• If you convey your lack of confidence about blogging, your customers will lack confidence in you. Beth’s most recent blog post, for instance (published a month-and-a-half after her previous post), begins, “Blogging isn’t really my strength.”

My unsolicited advice to Beth: “Don’t call attention to the fact that you neglected your blog for over a month, and don’t downplay your abilities.”

Beth truly is a better blogger than she gives herself credit for. She writes in an inviting, conversational voice, and she includes loads of pictures of the products she sells.

Beth doesn’t need to blog “poorly.” For her, blogging “well” might mean investing in a professional writer to ghostwrite some of her blog posts so her updates are fresh, inviting, and polished.

For her, blogging “well” might mean investing in a graphic designer to create a custom Blogger template that matches the look of her new Web site. (And yes, Blogging Bistro offers both of those services.)

Anything worth doing is worth doing well.

*Name changed