With today's digital marketing potential, having a blog is one of the first things entrepreneurs should hop on to promote their business. However, maintaining a blog is hard work, and if you're not up for that challenge then you'll find that your blog isn't helping your business at all.

If you have a blog or you're thinking about starting one, here are 4 reasons you don't need a blog... at least not yet.

1. You're Not Sharing It

I've already clued you guys in on SEO and how it works for your blogs. But considering the mass amount of competition on the internet, there is only so much SEO can do on its own. That's why part of your job when it comes to blogging is sharing it.

Shocking, I know.

Sharing a link to your blog on social media or through your email newsletter should be an automatic reflex after hitting Publish. But there are other ways you can get your blog shared, too: guest posts, backlinks, and a slew of other opportunities. Sharing your blog and your niche expertise will even help your SEO because the more people that read it, the more likely Google will bump it up to the front page.

So if you're writing blogs on a regular basis, but you're not sharing it, maybe try to have someone (like me) help you out with cross-promotion.

2. You're Not Managing It

One reason I might tell someone to let go of their blog is because they're not properly managing it. You should have a content calendar planned out a least a month in advance with blog ideas. Ideally, your blogs should be published on the same day and time each week. It's the best way to keep your audience or clients engaged with your business. Think of it as a weekly meeting. If you quit showing up or you're late for your weekly meetings, people are going to stop depending on you... or you're going to get fired.

As I mentioned, maintaining a blog is hard work. You have to research ideas, plan them out, include SEO, share them on social media, and stay consistent. If you're not ready to do all of that in order to promote your business, maybe save blog writing for later down the road when you find more free time.

3. You're Not Producing Original Thoughts

One tactic that bloggers will use to "fool" the Google algorithm is to repost content from higher-performing websites. The idea is that the external links from these authoritative sites will help land their page higher up on Google. Plus, it's less work for them. For example, I could copy and paste Neil Patel's SEO blogs every week, and eventually one of my blogs might hit the Google jackpot a.k.a the front page.

The problem with this tactic is that it hinders your credibility. If you can't produce original thoughts on, say, selling houses, then why would someone use you as their realtor? It makes your audience second guess your experience. So if this is the blog route you're currently on, it might be best to get rid of it altogether.

4. You Don't Need A Blog If You're Not Selling

The whole point in having a blog is to sell a service or product. Yes, some people get into blogging as a hobby, but this article isn't for those people. Even people who end up writing blogs for a living ultimately start to sell something in order to generate an income.

Your product or service should always pop up in your blogs. You'll notice that I mentioned my freelancing services a time or two in this blog. If you're not adding links or mentioning what you're selling in your blogs, then you might need to rethink your strategy. If you're not trying to sell anything at all and you just want some fun fluff to entertain your audience... well, your time may be better spent elsewhere.

Of course, if you want your company to have a blog to drive more traffic to your website and your services, then consider hiring a thoughtful, energetic, and well-established freelance writer who can turn your blog readers into actual buyers.

Me. I'm talking about me. You can call or email me if you have questions about how I can reenergize your blog to help reach its maximum potential!