A LOT has been written about Blogs and you'd be forgiven for thinking that, if only your business had a blog, the money would come rolling in.

But before you rush out to spend money on a wizzy blog system, think about where you are going to find the time to use it because a blog is no good to you without you having the time or the staff to periodically add content to it.

Like that new Diary you got for Christmas, a blog is only as good as what's written on the pages. A diary with blank pages is still a diary, but no-one will want to read it.

The same principle applies to blogs - and like a diary, it doesn't matter if it is written by Samuel Pepys or a Call Girl - either way it needs lots of good content to keep us interested.

So ask yourself questions like: 'Am I a compulsive Diarist?' or 'Do I have a Compulsive Diarist on my payroll?' or 'Do I generate lots of Press Releases already, which can be easily adapted into Blog Content?'

If your answer is 'No' to these questions then you don't need a Blog until you have got a system for putting content into it.

Writing a blog is really a self-discipline and a time management issue - to get started you need to be writing every day and that will take about an hour a day once you start. That is the price you pay. But if you keep it up consistently, you'll find those 250 words will take you 60 minutes initially, but about 15 minutes after a year if you stick at it.

And better still - it will improve your ability to write so much that it will actually turn you into a more creative person AND a more self-disciplined person - you need never go on one of those expensive courses again!

OK. So, if you find you can't or won't hack it, look for someone in your organisation or whom you know who writes routinely or already has a blog (and therefore sets aside time to write it) or has kept a diary all their life. When you've found them, hire them! Alternatively, hire a young would-be journalist from the local sixth-form college or local newspaper - they might do it for free, just for the experience and something to put on their CV.

A content management system (CMS) will give you the facility to start your blog within your website and allow you to add hundreds of article posts onto your site - you can even time them to come and go at different days of the year - so you can write a lot of stuff for next Christmas now, while you've got the time, then set it to appear on your site at the end of October, then disappear on the twelfth day of Christmas for the following year (after an update). With a CMS, you've effectively got your blog in the bag.

At Krann we are asked to install WordPress systems (the most well-known blog system) from time to time, but we have found not every customer uses the system once installed, because they didn't think through the time they would need to keep it up to date.

Anyway, enough...!

The moral of our story is: Blogs don't write themselves - get in the habit of writing before you get in the habit of spending!