Marketing Services in Northern VA

A networking friend of mine told me over breakfast today that he is starting a blog that he described as “70% personal, 30% business.” He wanted to know if I think this is a good idea.  I think it’s an excellent question, and a good topic for today’s blog post! (Thanks John S.!)

If you’re thinking about starting a blog and you want to combine the professional with the personal, I have a word of advice: Don’t.

I recommend that, like my 12-year old, you never let your food (for thought) touch.  Don’t mix your personal and professional blogging.

Here’s my reasoning:

First of all, you’ll bore your friends.

Second, if your blog includes posts about your business as well as posts about, say, why you think that American Idol sucked this year, you risk branding yourself as “not to be taken seriously.” (Just look at Paula Abdul, no one takes her seriously!) Not a good idea if you expect to do more business as a result of your online literary efforts.

Now, you could create a separate blog category and call it something like “On a Personal Note,” so readers understand that this category’s content is not related to your business. If you travel this route, you should still avoid any subject matter that could be deemed questionable or offensive to customers.

Does using caution mean that your posts must be totally innocuous, limiting your professional blogging to product announcements and trade show reviews? Not at all! Professional blogs don’t have to be dry like toast. Blogging is the perfect vehicle for sparking controversy and debate. Stating your opinions makes for interesting posts.

Just be careful to only say in your blog what you would feel comfortable reading aloud at an industry event, or to a new client.