How to Start a Business Blog
Everywhere you turn on the web it seems like every Tom, Dick and Mary have a BLOG. But your average digital journal won’t up your ante against your business competition. Deciding to start a business BLOG can be quite daunting. Here, we’ll discuss planning, launching and measuring your business BLOG success.
- - - - - - - - - -
BLOGGING, it seems like everyone is doing it these days. There are blogs for just about every interest out there; blogs on family, babies, pets, technology and even food pimping (1). Blogs have evolved from the early personal journals into viable sources for news, editorials, articles and places to find entertaining content.
One of the largest and most active bloggers are business bloggers, they make up 1.2 million bits of the BLOG population (2). These groups of passionate experts are authorities on topics like marketing, sales, customer service and specific industries like financial services or real estate.
With such a broad community of bloggers, you’re probably thinking about becoming part of the discourse yourself, but what does it take to be an effective business blogger and how do you start?
Blogs aren’t Buffets!
While the internet is a buffet of sites where readers can sample one bit of information on one website or a byte of information on another, your business BLOG can’t afford to be an unfocused plate of flavors. A fickle writer won’t appease the masses.
Readers prefer a business BLOG to have a consistent topic, for example, if your topic is “Ways to Create Better Office Spaces,” you probably don’t want to write about making your cat dinner one day and a post on your top 5 ergonomic chairs the next. Jumping around will confuse and alienate your BLOG readership, who won’t be keen to visit again when you write a BLOG post off-topic.
So, What’s My Topic?
Starting a business BLOG can be daunting, the first thing you have to tackle is identifying you topic. What are you passionate about? Whatever your business BLOG topic, you’ll want to be specific. Here are some things to consider as you narrow down your BLOG’s focus:
* What are you passionate about in business (marketing, writing, fung shui)?
* Are there other business blogs out there covering a similar topic?
* If there are similar blogs, what’s your unique spin?
* Create an original and engaging writing style - if it’s a mod-BLOG (3), why is anyone going to read it? Settling on a topic is a process, but the quicker you can pick one, the better off your BLOG will be when you launch it.
BLOG Platforms
After settling on your business BLOG topic, choosing your BLOG platform is the next important step to launching your BLOG site. If you own server space, you may choose to install open-source BLOGGING technology like WordPress. If you don’t have server space, BLOG platforms like Google-owned Blogger or LiveJournal can be great spaces for new bloggers.
BLOG platforms come standard with a preformatted design and can include:
* the ability to install different layout themes
* calendar option and archiving methods
* creating multiple categories and subcategories
* RSS feeds
* adding blogroll (4)
Sites like Businessblogconsulting.com can provide you with reviews of the many BLOG publishing platforms available, you can also take a look at another one of my articles, “BLOGGING For Your Business” which lists these resources.
Setting Business BLOG Goals
Place your BLOG goals in these two buckets:
1.) Measurable metrics to track ROI:
- how many visitors come to your BLOG?
- what topics attract the most visitors
- what days do you have the best BLOG traffic?
2.) Personnel goals:
- how much time should employees BLOG each day?
- are your staff’s quality of writing
improving with each BLOG post?
Just as a business plan played a part in starting your company, having firm goals can help you gage your BLOG’s success.
Small companies can apply for free tracking tools like Google Analytics which can show overall traffic, referring sites and geographical places your visitors come from. For other blogs, a simple hit counter from Microsoft’s bCentral will suffice.
Managing your Writing & BLOG Maintenance Schedule
What hours can you and your employees afford to BLOG as of your work day? How often will you BLOG? Keeping content fresh is key — write as often as your schedule allows, and include these activities as part of your regular BLOG writing schedule:
* deleting BLOG spam (splog) and offending comments adding partners to your blogroll
* creating buzz for your BLOG by leaving comments on other blogs or news outlets
Managing a company business BLOG is also about managing your writing schedule. Are all of your company’s bloggers abiding by the site’s topic and rules: i.e. Jim blogs on Tuesday by lunch and will take 45 minutes to post, he will also approve BLOG comments and remove splog.
Business BLOGGING Benefits
Sharing your business knowledge on a BLOG is a win-win venture. BLOGGING for your business can increase your office brand visibility and provide your company other web benefits:
* natural search will rise for your company because of key words used in your BLOG posts
* your small office could become the thought leader for your topic
* BLOGGING can help customers find your product online.
Blogs present a human face to your business. Companies who can give their customers and prospective clients this personalization will have a genuine business advantage. Starting a business BLOG can be a lot of work, but taking a little time each day to share your business insights will let your customers see your company as an expert in your field. As you BLOG, your audience and customers will come to inherently trust your business vision and build your reputation as a business leader.
- - - - - - - - - -
End Notes:
1.) Food pimping is a culinary trend where cooks take a popular food like a snickers bar, and create its behemoth twin in their kitchen documenting each step via digital photo .
2.) Google search “business BLOG” 1,340,000 results with quots; without ” ” quotes 533,000,000., 6, April 2007. http://www.google.com .
3.) Mod-blogs are “boring” or mundane blogs. For other BLOG types and verbiage, visit Wikipedia’s entry on “blogs,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog#Types
4.) Think of blogrolls as a list where you can place partner and/or related blogs.
About the Author :: Ms. Veniegas works on the the Marketing team at Essential Security Software, Inc. (ESS), a leading email anti-theft solutions provider. She also serves as a contributor to the ESS Hub, ESS’s Marketing and Promotions site which also features SMB Small/Meduim business marketing tips and tricks.