Blogging - the new frontier for online accountants

Thanks for the hat tip John. I'm blushing bright pink with false modesty. There is now firm evidence that 'blogging' (call it what you will) is having a commmercial impact - both good and, in some cases bad - I know of cases where revenues directly attributable to blog presence are up 20%. One case involves a Savile Row tailor - a so-called 'rich person's only' business that has been on the slide for years and where Westmister Council is having to step in to prevent the Row dying on its feet.

Equally, I know of a case that cost the company $15 million and another that's likely to cost £630K. These losing cases are where the company failed to understand the need for quality customer communication in a crisis. And paid the price.

As to time/cost - this is always an issue, especially for small practices where the partners have to bill most of their time. My question is this: Assume your small practice bills £300K per annum. Say your blog efforts produce a modest 5% increase in revenue = £15K. How much would it cost to engage someone who shares your passion to keep your site interesting and up to date? £3-5K pa? So now you're worst case is £10K 'gross' in front. You can handle that - can't you?

But say you're turning £500K pa and you get the same 5% - now you're net £20K ahead with little impact on the practice because the extra can be shared. What about £1 million GRF?

If you're already paying for what amounts to everyone else's re-badged content then you've saved wasted money as well. Wasted - because there's no differentiation, just more brochureware.

BTW - you can easily measure impact so there is a way to understand impact as it relates to effort or money expended.

And we've not even thought about client churn where I believe this medium helps to reduce/eliminate it as an issue.

If the numbers go up to 10-15%, the sums become very attractive. So now you have a choice. Set out what you want to achieve and match your efforts accordingly or outsource 'blog production.'

Does that mean same-old here there and everywhere? No chance. You'll already know the niches where there is high margin and blog towards that group but in 'your' voice. It will be individual for each practice because it is your individual character that defines your current position and success. And you should always go from where you're at, not where you want to be.

None of this is rocket science. Most of it is obvious and simple - when you see it. The problem is that most people don't see the obvious because they're looking in the wrong direction or are too deeply entrenched in their business to see it. That used to be my problem when I was in practice and engaged in 80% client work.