In Blogs Or Tennis, Start Strong, Avoid Fizzle

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.