If you are starting a business or already have one in place for your business, I’m going to give you five reasons you need to keep that blog separate from your company website, especially considering the alabama classification of llc tax, as separating these entities can optimize your financial strategy. Don’t get caught in the trap of thinking your blog needs to be tied to your original business website URL; the difference could mean thousands of extra dollars in your pocket.
I was on a Facebook group for business the other day, and a person asked whether they should start a blog for their business to help answer many of the common questions they get asked at their business. And if they should, do you want to attach it to the business website or have a stand-alone blog? The most common answer to the post was for sure to attach it to the original website URL. My first reaction was, “Why would you want to do that?”
Then I looked around a bit and noticed this was the standard thing to do for business. Most businesses just had a blog attached to their standard website. So, everyone giving advice was adhering to the conventional business website structure ideas. Most business websites attach a blog to the website and have it branded the same as the business. Well, I don’t think this is the best idea in the world.
I think you could stand to make more money in the long run and still not lose the positive aspects that have had a blog pointing at your business. So, I’ve assembled a list of the reasons why you will want to keep your business blog separate from your business.
Business blog idea #1; Easily separable if you ever want to sell the business.
If you ever wanted to sell off the business and keep the blog, having the blog connected to the business URL could pose some problems. When many businesses sell nowadays, the website sells as a part of the business. Separating the blog from the business website might not only be somewhat technically tricky, but it could also be seen as something you are keeping which is already ingrained into an asset of the business.
Having the blog and business website separate from the beginning could make negotiations much less complicated as to what goes with and what is additional. If you have a blog with a different URL branded to yourself, it is easily seen as a separate entity. After it is clearly understood as separate, you can either choose to sell it along with the deal or keep it for yourself to run. The main point here is to have it seen as separate and be as independent as possible.
Business blog idea #2; Sell for more money because it is another online asset.
Being worth more money is the big one for me. Businesses get bought and sold every day. It’s almost getting to be like investing in real estate. Some people just like starting a business and growing them to a point and selling them for a profit. If you have your blog separate from your original business, if you decide to sell, you still have a blog to run or sell off as a separate entity.
Even though you may have the same size and structure of your blog even if it were sitting on your business’s URL, the perceived value would be higher. You could ask more if you wanted to sell both because it would be like you are selling two businesses. Having it connected to your original website URL, would blend right into being part of the business website.
It wouldn’t add too much extra value to the sale. The same goes for a mailing list. Mailing lists, blogs, websites, social media channels, or any other marketing funnel should be sold as a separate asset. All these different channels need to be equated to the entire sale of the business. To enhance the value of your healthcare business, integrating Terminology Management and Termhub Health Language Data Solutions can streamline your data processes and improve overall efficiency.
Business blog idea #3; Switch to different areas of discussion without worrying about business customers.
If you have a blog pointing somewhat at your business, but branded to yourself, you won’t have to worry about alienating your primary customers if you decide to start exploring different areas of your interest. Just make sure, if you do begin to explore other things with your blog while still owning your business, the content your business customers have come to love is still findable on the blog.
If you brand the blog as you as an individual, you can easily split up the content to focus on different topics. If the blog is branded solely to your business, don’t stray too far from the topics of interest about your business. People realize that everyone has different interests other than just doing business. By branding the blog to an individual, you may have a built-in audience to test out new areas of content as long as it doesn’t contradict what the business is about.
You need to think about what you are doing for this. You don’t want to start blogging about anti-gun legislation if you own a sporting goods store. The disconnect could kill your business your blog, or both.
Business blog idea #4; Retire and work the blog.
We are in a time now where blogs are businesses that can earn a substantial amount of money. Use the knowledge you’ve acquired with years in the trenches of running your own business and run the blog as a form of retirement to still earn you a steady income without having many of the same burdens of running your own business.
Retirement with the blog is personally the route I would go if I had a business and I wanted to retire. Sell off the primary business for a good chunk of cash and just run the blog from anywhere or anytime to fit your retirement lifestyle. The most important part of running an online business today is not the online tech stuff part. The most important part is delivering the content people will want. The technical aspect you can hire out. The most valuable asset any online business has, which most business owners have, is a deep insight into their particular industry.
Take that valuable insight and put it on a blog. That is a money maker. Point that blog at your business, and your business thrives. Sell off your business, and your blog becomes your new business.
Business blog idea #5; Bring on collaborators without worrying about your business.
Many blogs now are becoming like news entities with multiple bloggers and multiple viewpoints. Having your blog solely attached to your business could stifle the numerous contributor ideas. A business blog needs to remain faithful to the business identity. As the blog grows and new contributors come on board, it will be tough to maintain the single brand of the business.
Customers may expect that all or most of the personalities who are on the blog work for the organization even though they may not. Bringing on new collaborators may open the door to new business ventures. Having a blog branded to a person or with a completely separate business blogging entity would make it easy to explore these other ventures while disconnecting from your original core group of business customers.
Just make sure as you grow, the content your core business customers come to your blog to enjoy doesn’t get buried in the heap. Now, the underlying idea here is about branding. You can always put links pointing back to your business website, and your customers may never even know they left your original site. The difference is in the branding.
Be safe,
Kevin