What Not to Put on Your Blog
Starting a business blog in 2008? Good. You should be!
And to get off on the right foot, here are a few quick tips to help you from making amateur mistakes and (hopefully) on your way to becoming a business blogging sensation this year.
Focus on a topic. This isn't a personal blog where anything goes. Spend some time thinking about what kinds of things you'd like to write about and develop a community around. Blogs that are more topic-focused also tend to receive more credibility—which can mean visibility. But, of course, a random funny tidbit is fun to share once in awhile, too.
Keep it free of sales and marketing fluff. Blogs are vehicles by which to share and receive information. And there's no bigger blogging faux pas like posting a press release. Egads. Do us all a favor and keep the salesese on your corporate site. Provide valuable content and visitors will follow.
Become an authority. Readers develop trust in bloggers who know their stuff. Dedicate yourself to learning everything you can about your niche, and share that knowledge with your readers.
Write regularly. Remember, blogging is (mostly) free in the financial sense, but it costs time. Write regularly (3-5 times weekly) to keep readers engaged and coming back for more. And remember, the search engines will love your blog the more frequently it's updated with relevant content!
Track your visitors. Use a free program like Google Analytics to track who's coming, who's going, and where they came from. Google Analytics will also help you analyze your traffic to determine good keywords and topics for future blog posts.
And finally:
Get your feet wet. Spend some time fiddling around with your new blog and get a few posts up there before you go telling all your friends and family about it. The benefit is two-fold: It will give you a chance to develop your voice and writing style—and it will give your new readers lots of exciting things to check out, increasing their chances of adding your new blog to their feed reader.
Have blogging questions? Ask us via comments!
[Related]:
The Skinny on Blogging for Business: Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four
Comments
What do you folks do before submitting posts in terms of copywriting, compliance or just plain spell checking. Do you get a few eyes on it before submitting or do you just draft it and post it?
Posted by: Aaron Wallrich | January 2, 2008 02:28 PM
Aaron,
Great question.
Actually, the Agent Blog authors (Jeb, Maribeth and myself) are all copywriters. So I suppose we have somewhat of an unfair advantage for those without writers on staff.
However, your question speaks to the reluctance a lot of organizations have about business blogging ("Will they reflect poorly on the business? Will they reveal company secrets?"), so it's important for all business bloggers to follow the unwritten rule of blogging: Blog smart.
Spell checking is a biggie when it comes to blogging. After all, how can anyone take you and your business seriously when your site is filled with a bunch of typos. I save all of my posts in a Word document for good measure. And, if somehow I've missed something along the way, a helpful reader or one of my colleagues will let me know.
Rest assured, new bloggers, that with experience, you'll gain confidence in your writing and topics!
Posted by: Megan Mahan | January 2, 2008 03:04 PM
Megan,
I just wanted to say thank you for the great tips on starting a business blog in 2008.
I completely understand and agree with your suggestion to become an expert on a subject and share your knowledge.
I was wondering if you have suggestions for keeping reader interest when your subject matter is extremely specialized and labeled by some as mundane?
Posted by: Derek Lee | January 7, 2008 02:50 PM
Derek,
I'm glad you liked the post!
Here are my suggestions for keeping content interesting:
1. Write like a real person. Even the most exciting topics become boring if you write like you're completing a research paper.
2. Go beyond being the messenger. Don't just present a news finding. Apply it to something that's happening with your agency or to someone you know. Bring it to life.
3. Have an opinion. Hop off the fence post once in awhile. Doing so will provoke conversation and get people involved. Then the real discussion begins.
Posted by: Megan | January 8, 2008 09:46 AM