I don’t mean right, right now. But, in gen­er­al. When I’m not talk­ing about run­ning or eat­ing ice cream, I can usu­al­ly be found copy­writ­ing. And one of the most com­mon ques­tions I’m asked right now is: “Should I be blog­ging, what with every­thing else going on?”

While my accoun­tant would cer­tain­ly say: “Yes. Absolute­ly. If any­thing you should be blog­ging more,” I say: “It depends.”

There are many rea­sons why you could, should and shouldn’t be con­tin­u­ing your busi­ness blog dur­ing the pan­dem­ic – so let’s take a look. 

Why you should continue blogging

Let’s start with the pos­i­tives of why you should con­tin­ue blog­ging through­out the lock­down and what­ev­er is com­ing next. 

1. To stay connected with your audience

Just because you’ve shut your phys­i­cal doors, doesn’t mean that you should stop com­mu­ni­cat­ing with your audi­ence full stop. Blogs and social media posts are pret­ty much your only way to stay in con­tact with your audi­ence right now, and this is important. 

Blogs remind peo­ple that you exist (hey there!), and they’re a use­ful tool for help­ing your cus­tomers to sur­vive with­out you for now, while also increas­ing their thirst for your busi­ness when you re-open. 

For exam­ple:

• A hair salon blog teach­ing cus­tomers how to cov­er their roots and avoid the box dye ensures that clients main­tain their healthy hair and that they’ll des­per­ate­ly need an appoint­ment when you re-open. 

 

• A cafe blog shar­ing the recipe of your famous break­fast muffins keeps your cus­tomers’ taste (or addic­tion) to your food alive, while also demon­strat­ing the con­ve­nience of order­ing a muffin-to-go. 

 

• A recruit­ment blog advis­ing job seek­ers on how to increase their chances of secur­ing a job in 2020 increas­es their employ­a­bil­i­ty prospects and gives you a ready-made audi­ence to help fol­low­ing the lockdown. 

 

2. To show you’re open

Every­one assumes that near­ly every­where is closed right now. This is great if you’re closed, but not-so-great if you’re still operating. 

A blog shows cur­rent, new, and enquir­ing audi­ences that you’re still open for busi­ness and that you’re pret­ty damn good at it too. 

And let’s not for­get, there’s still a lot of busi­ness to be had out there. With more time to browse the inter­net, revise strate­gies, and con­sid­er the future, peo­ple are online, shop­ping for prod­ucts and services. 

An active blog allows you to demon­strate your exper­tise, advise your cus­tomers, and engage new audiences. 

 

3. Because you’ve got the time

If you’ve always want­ed a busi­ness blog, but nev­er had the time, guess what? Now is your time. 

The lock­down has giv­en many peo­ple a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to re-assess their busi­ness­es, get to the bot­tom of their to-do lists, and start doing things dif­fer­ent­ly. Go forth and start your blog. 

Nev­er writ­ten a blog before? No prob­lem. You can jump in feet first, ask a pro­fes­sion­al for advice, or write the first draft your­self and get some­one to per­fect it. 

 

4. Because everyone wants something different

Social media is great but (as you’ve prob­a­bly already expe­ri­enced) you can quick­ly run out of things to say. 

A blog gives you some­thing new to talk about, and it gives your audi­ence some­thing non-coro­n­avirus-relat­ed to read. A win-win. 

When you should pause blogging

While I think blog­ging is impor­tant for busi­ness­es at all times (and espe­cial­ly now), there are rea­sons why you don’t want to or shouldn’t blog. 

 

1. You feel it’s insensitive

You might be con­cerned that blog­ging dur­ing a glo­cal cri­sis is a lit­tle, well, insensitive. 

The world is tack­ling a seri­ous sit­u­a­tion and you feel that pro­mot­ing your blog on the “Top 10 trav­el des­ti­na­tions in 2020” is not only irrel­e­vant but crass. 

That’s ok. If blog­ging doesn’t feel right for you or your com­pa­ny, you should absolute­ly put your blog on hold. Of course, there are ways to sen­si­tive­ly con­tin­ue blog­ging, but if that goes against your company’s val­ues, then it can wait. 

2. You don’t know what to say

It’s cer­tain­ly tricky know­ing what to blog about right now. You don’t feel right blog­ging on as nor­mal but the world is a lit­tle bored of arti­cles on how to work from home. 

Again, that’s anoth­er accept­able rea­son to take a break. If you don’t want to take a break, ask a copy­writer (I know a good one!) to sug­gest appro­pri­ate top­ics. But, if you have noth­ing you can or want to blog about, put it on hold. 

3. You’re too busy

If you’re expe­ri­enc­ing a rise in busi­ness, com­bat­ing home­school­ing, car­ing for a loved one or sim­ply get­ting your head around this crazy sit­u­a­tion, you might not have time to con­tin­ue blogging. 

And do you know what? That’s ok too. 

Look­ing after your­self is pri­or­i­ty #1 right now. Either hand your blog over to a blog writ­ing ser­vice, reduce your con­tent, or take a break. 

A final note

Paus­ing your blog isn’t ide­al, but then the cur­rent sit­u­a­tion isn’t ide­al either – we just have to roll with it. 

If you are paus­ing your con­tent, don’t for­get to post a “paus­ing blog” that explains why you’re plac­ing your blog on hold and when your audi­ence can tune back in. 

And, if you don’t want to pause your con­tent, but are strug­gling to blog right now, get in touch for some friend­ly advice. 

Most impor­tant­ly, take care of yourself. 

 

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About A Way With Words

A Way With Words is a copy­writ­ing ser­vice based in Mil­ton Keynes, but writ­ing across the world. If you’re look­ing for clear, engag­ing, and impact­ful blogs, you’ve come to the right place.