Whether you should blog has little to do with you. It has even less to do with the vendor sitting across from you trying to sell you a blog.

You should start by thinking about your audience. That’s the starting place.

Ask yourself whether your audience wants you to blog.

Think About Your Process for Hiring Vendors

Here’s what I mean. Let’s shift gears for a minute.

Let’s think about dead people.

Someone is dead. You’re in charge. You need to deal with the body. It’s your problem.

What do you do?

Odds are you know someone who went through this recently. You call her and ask for help. She suggests a funeral home that can handle things for you. Done.

What if you don’t know anyone who recently managed a funeral? Then you might call a trusted adviser. Maybe you call your minister or rabbi or whatever. She gives you a lead. You call. The company sends a truck. Done.

What if you don’t have a trusted adviser? It happens.

You turn to Google. You search “[your city] funeral,” and Google shows you some information.

A bunch of sites come up. You click on a few and open each in a new tab. Obviously, ranking highly will be useful to the business that wants your business. You’ll likely review the first page of results with an emphasis on those at the top.

What’s going to show up at the top? Sites with good information, sites Google perceives as authoritative (often because there are many links to them from other credible sites), and well-organized sites. Google prioritizes sites with up-to-date information that is mobile friendly and that loads quickly. Of course, Google factors in many other variables, most of which are proprietary secrets guarded by Google.

Google is highly incentivized to provide users with useful information. It wants you to come back each time you need to search, so it wants to be helpful.

How do you want your funeral information? That’s a question only you can answer.

• Should the funeral home blog?
• Should it build a useful, information-packed site about funerals?
• Should it build calculators, forms, and online tools that help you prepare?
• Should it organize the information chronologically, by topic, or by author?

In the funeral scenario, you’re the audience. You get to decide how you want your information. You get to decide whether you want a blog, a website, video content on YouTube, or whatever. In this instance, you’re the audience, and the funeral home needs to meet your information needs.

Consider the Needs of Your Audience

Now, shift gears, and put yourself in the shoes of your audience members.

• What do they think when they need help with the problem you solve?
• What is their life like at that moment?
• What caused them to search for your information?
• What format is most useful to them?
• What presentation helps them come to know you, like you, and trust you?

There’s your answer to the blogging question. You need to think about what your audience needs. You need to ask your clients what they think. You need to talk to your clients and figure out how they want the information delivered when they’re feeling a need but haven’t yet found a lawyer.

The answer to the “Should you blog?” question is about them, not you. Only with a focus on your audience can you decide whether a blog is the way to go.

Don’t listen to the vendors. Listen to your audience.