Bar Blogging

I've lost count of the number of 'SEO experts' who say, that if you have a Bar website and you want to SEO, you have to blog. It just isn't true.

Sometimes trying to run a blog can be exhausting ... and your time would have been better spent elsewhere anyway!

How can every bar owner run a blog and have something interesting to say? And even if each one did how would that benefit their business? How is having an article about something bar related that becomes incredibly popular in Europe going to help your bar in Woodydale, US?

I've seen blogs where the bar owner is so stuck on what to say they create posts about new receptionists and stuff. They literally become a slave to their blog which sucks time they could be using for something productive.

If you do have regular things to say ask yourself - "Are these announcements?" In which case they would be better posted on a Social Media profile like Facebook than making long and waffly attempts to turn them into Blog posts.

Blogs do have a role in SEO and that's why those who have lived in a text book but haven't done real life Search Engine Optimization for a local business successfully think it's important. But I'm telling you for bar owners it isn't and if its not something you enjoy doing you are highly unlikely to get any SEO benefit from it that also benefits your business.

If you do love writing about changes to your business or developments in your field then sure, start a blog. To test the water I always say to my clients that they should write 10 blog posts offline, each one at least 500 words long, over the next ten weeks. If, at the end of those 10 weeks they want to write another 10 posts then start a blog. If the whole thing was a real struggle don't start an online blog.

In fact, just like with badly run Social Media accounts, a poor quality blog is going to make you look unprofessional and act as a turn off for potential customers so you can end up doing your business more damage than good.