Developing a blog for your small or medium business is an excellent way to bring in new customers, introduce yourself and refine your brand identity. Using carefully selected keywords and phrases can help people interested in what you have to offer find you, and filling your blog with useful information presented in a way that reflects a real human personality is a powerful strategy for connecting with consumers. With so many people blogging for fun and to keep far-flung loved ones up to date on their lives, it seems like something anyone could do, and it is. But a personal blog is vastly different to a business blog, which is why so many small business that take their blogs seriously hire professionals to provide WordPress design and development services.

Deciding whether or not to take a do-it-yourself approach to a business blog is not a simple decision. Here are a few points to consider to help small business owners figure out if they should take on the job of blogging themselves or hire expert WordPress design and development services.

• What do you already know about web design? Can you set up a professional looking website that represents your unique brand? What can’t you do?

• Are you up to date with online marketing strategies? Do you regularly go to training events to stay current?

• Do you want to do your own website design and development for your site and your blog? Is it something you actually enjoy?

• How much time will it realistically take you to set up and maintain your site? What will you do less of to create that time and how will that affect your income? (For example, if you take two hours a week to maintain your website, but you lose two hours of time for direct sales work, how much money will you lose?)

• If you do your web work yourself, will it keep getting knocked to the bottom of your to-do list by other things that seem more pressing? If so, that means your website will soon be looking neglected and out of date.

One very appealing thing about WordPress is that it is remarkably user-friendly. That makes it very tempting to take on the job yourself, but it doesn’t make it a good idea to do so. What many find works well is to have professionals create the site, but also have access to do blog posts or update special offers themselves. It is not strictly either/ or.

If you are struggling with the decision because you know deep down you do not have the technical skills or time to do it right, but you are reluctant to hand over control of something so closely tied to your business’s identity, WordPress is an ideal platform. You can hire professional WordPress design and development services and maintain direct access to update your site yourself when you need or want to do so. It is the best of both worlds!