I am the author of a startup blog -- the Invantory blog, which we launched last month. But I've also been looking at a lot of other companies' startup blogs as we researched startup accelerator programs like Y Combinator and TechStars. One thing I noticed during my review of some of the companies that had participated in the programs in the past was a moderate number of company blogs that have been neglected or outright abandoned.
Company blogs are a very well-known and important channel for informing users, recruiting customers, and sharing expertise, so I was surprised to see this trend. Blogs that haven't been updated in months or even years without any explanation prompt some users (and customers) to wonder if something's wrong, and outdated information that hasn't been corrected with newer posts can be a source of misunderstandings. These issues can have a negative effect on the business.
As I looked into why this was happening, it was clear that there were several causes. One unsurprising reason was many startups are too busy to regularly update the blog. Others had folded, but for whatever reason left the blog up and running. A few decided that blogging wasn't a good fit for them, or didn't deliver much value.
Whatever the reason, the fact that startup blogs are not updated is a major mistake for the companies that operate them. Fortunately, there are a number of solutions, and many of them are relatively easy to implement. I've outlined a list on the Invantory blog -- be sure to read and share it.
