7 Reasons Business Blogs Fail

Everyone has stumbled upon the business blog that seems to have died on the vine. 

There’s this one, last updated in September, 2010.

Or this one, with a couple of posts in May, 2011, in March before that . . .

Blogs are tough to keep up, and we know that 95 percent of them are abandoned (that includes all blogs, not just the business category). But the reasons for blogging are still pretty compelling; there’s evidence that a business that blogs gets 55 percent more traffic to its website than a business that doesn’t blog.

Here are seven reasons I think business blogs fizzle and fade:

1. There’s no real accountability for the people in charge of producing the content. It may be “part of one’s job” but it’s not formally in a job description, is not rewarded for success with compensation or other meaningful recognition, and/or isn’t part of that person’s evaluation.
2. The responsibility for blogging or engaging in social media on behalf of the company is added on to someone’s already full plate, with no guidance as to how to fit the new activities into existing hours.
3. The wrong person is in the driver’s seat: for instance, it doesn’t need to be the company president or marketing director doing all the blogging. In fact, it only needs to be the person who is most passionate about consistently contributing quality content.
4. One person tries to do too much themselves and gets burned out.
5. The effort is wholly focused on text-heavy posts; essays are hard to churn out a few times a week, minimum. (Mixing up content with photos, video, audio, etc. can help keep a blog alive and lively.)
6. The blog does not exist to help create a community — it is publishing into the ether, rather than inviting people in to join the conversation.
7. The person who is most passionate about the blog leaves the company.

If your business is blogging, what are you proactively doing to keep the blog alive and thriving?