While most business owners have figured out that advertising has moved away from traditional print media to the internet, we still run into business owners every day who have missed a key point. Web media does not work like traditional media. People don’t read blogs to find ads. That’s not what a blog is for.

The Yellow Pages work the way they do for a simple reason. When someone opens the phone book, they are looking for an ad. They know they need a particular product or service. They probably need it now, and they’re probably willing and able to pay. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be looking in the phone book to begin with. That’s not true about a blog. Odds are, your average blog viewer isn’t looking to buy anything. Even if the blog viewer is in your target market, they probably aren’t ready to buy on the day when they look at your blog.

Blogs are intended to be a resource. They need to be funny, informative, entertaining, controversial, pretty, attention-grabbing, newsworthy, or otherwise worth reading. There’s nothing wrong with advertising, but your blog is simply not the place to do it. It won’t work. That also goes for your Facebook business page and your Twitter page.

If you’re not sure what to write on your blog, here are two quick things you can do.

1. Start reading blogs. If you just schedule 30 minutes once per week to take time reading other blogs, you’ll start to notice which ones you like. That will give you ideas for what to write on yours.

2. Get Google Reader. It’s free, and it’s simple to set up (especially if you already have a Gmail account). This tool lets you get the updates from your favorite blogs all in one place. It will help you save time as you begin to discover blogs that you like. It saves you the trouble of having to bookmark and check each blog individually.

Blogging is an art. Just like playing the piano, it takes practice.

If your web site isn’t selling anything, the problem is more likely to lie with your business model than with your web site.

It’s human nature to look for the silver bullet. If your goal is to start generating sales using your web site as a vehicle, that may require re-designing the fundamental nature of your business and creating an online brand. This may run counter to the way you think as a business owner, particularly if your business is of the “brick and mortar” variety.

If there is nothing directly for sale on your web site or if the only thing a customer can do is e-mail you (and you’re not willing to change that), there’s probably not much you can do to improve your site’s performance. Just make sure that the information posted stays accurate and up-to-date.

Any kind of sophisticated testing just isn’t practical for a small business web site, especially if you don’t have product to sell online. If you have a brick-and-mortar business and a web site with a phone number for prospective customers to call, try a different kind of test.

Here’s the idea:

1. Write down a list of 100 of your personal friends or business contacts. (You can run this test in groups of five).
2. Start by sending an e-mail to five people from your list with a link back to your web site. Ask them for their opinion of your web site.
3. Note how many respond within 48 hours.
4. Follow up by phone to the people who do not respond. Ask them if they replied to your e-mail.
5. Write down what you observe.

Repeat this procedure with another group of five. You can do this as many times as you like. If you repeat this procedure once a week, you will quickly begin to get some good ideas about how you can improve your web site.

You may have, at one time, found yourself sitting at a blank computer screen, thinking “What do I blog about now?” If you’re at that stage, the solution is simple. Find a web site in your industry or niche that’s blogging successfully with a high number of visitors, and copy what they did. I’m not saying that you should literally cut and paste their text onto your blog. That will get you flagged as a scraper site. Do try to at least appear to be original. Don’t just paraphrase each sentence, either. Take ideas from multiple blog posts and combine them. Then, write them in your own words.

Most of what’s written on the web is common knowledge. If you talk about the fact that wheels are round, for example, no one else can claim original ownership of this idea.

It might not be terribly interesting, but it’s enough to get you started blogging. You’ll think of better ideas later.

At the same time, you may not be able to devote much of your time to maintaining and updating your web site, either. Here are a few things you can do for 15 minutes per week. Put a weekly reminder in your Outlook or your tickler file to cover these minimal essentials.

1. Re-read your web site copy. Is it still accurate?

2. Jot down a few brainstorms about ways you might improve your site quickly.

3. Ask one customer for a written testimonial and post it. Better yet, give one.

4. Ask one person to take a look at your web site and tell you what initial impression they get.

If you maintain these basic practices, ideas will naturally come to you for improving your own web site.