As of a few weeks ago, at least twenty major U.S. art museums were without directors.  Newsweek commented on just how difficult it is to fill these positions with anywhere near perfect candidates. The magazine’s “Help Wanted: Museum Boss” article talked about some of the challenges of running a modern museum – dealing with huge staffs and groups of volunteers, handling budgets, running retail operations, attracting crowds to special exhibits, all amidst constant pressure to secure donations to pay for it all.  Museum trustees, Newsweek remarks, are looking for someone “who can collect like a connoisseur but compete like a CEO.”

Museum directors apparently need to juggle the demands of both art and commerce.  Juggling different roles is nothing new for my business owner clients. In fact, in my earlier blog You May Be A Finder, Binder, Minder, or Grinder – Are You A Writer?, I discussed the four different and distinct roles that must be filled in order for any business to succeed, pointing out that it’s very rare to find any one person who’s comfortable and skilled in all four.

What I’m finding, as I deal with entrepreneurs of every ilk, is that most business owners are aware that having an online presence, complete with a regular business blog, is an indispensable thing in today’s competitive – and digital – climate.  The problem, of course, is that, once Finding new business is accomplished, there’s still the Binding, Minding, and Grinding to be done, leaving precious little time for composing blogs.  A big part of the challenge is the need to post blogs with frequency and consistency, minimum requirements for success in climbing the search engine ladder.

Newsweek doesn’t suggest that finding multi-talented museum directors is an impossible task, only a near-impossible one, “like finding a lost Leonardo.  Everybody wants one, and good luck with the search.”  We all know entrepreneurs who wear many hats with consummate skill.  But, for others who lack the time and inclination (and, as some of my business owner clients are quick to admit, the talent) to write, one of us professional ghost bloggers can be hired for behind-the-scenes help in staging online “exhibits” by posting the most artful of business blogs!.

In the summer issue of Indianapolis Tennis Magazine, coach Spencer Fields writes, “It has always been interesting for me to see the player who picks up a racket right before season begins, and then to see how they perform for the next three months” (Here’s the part that really grabbed my attention): “Often, they start out strong, but fizzle toward the end.”

Funny, I don’t know very much about the game of tennis, but blogging is something I do know about. Fields might have been referring to the many business owners who start out strong with their blogging, but months or even weeks later, begin to fizzle. Daily blogs become weekly blogs, and pretty soon, months go by between blog posts.

Fields lists the eight major strokes of tennis that great high school players must master, then goes on to say that’s not enough. Players, he adds, need a good sense of athleticism.  But what really separates the successes from the fizzlers, he points out, is that winners must know how to play the game of tennis.  They must have ways to win, as well as ways to play defensively. They must possess knowledge of momentum and be able to alter tactics and strategy in order to gain an advantage.

Business bloggers need ways to win, too.  Momentum comes from frequency of posting blogs and from building up longevity by consistently posting content on the Web over sustained periods of time.  As I explained in an earlier blog, The Blog Is Your Introduction Roof, a business can build equity through the steady and repeated use of search terms relevant to that business.

When it comes to blogs, altering tactics takes reading news, other websites, other blogs and commenting on current issues, relating what’s going on out there to the owner’s expertise and experience.  Effective tactics include linking to other blogs, posting comments, and responding to comments posted on your blog, in short, getting a two-way thing going.

Spencer Fields advises high school players to use the nine-month tennis off-season to advantage by practicing and strategizing.  That may be where the parallel between high school tennis and most small businesses ends. Down time is rare for a small business; business owners who can maintain the drill-sergeant discipline needed to increase web rankings are rarer still. The task of playing the kind of sustained game that wins search might fall, in many cases, to professional ghost bloggers.