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8 Sure Fire Principles For Effective Business Blogs
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Blogging started off as a fun way to share about yourself and showcase your personal passions. Now it is becoming more common to use blogs as tool in business to further your marketing or public relations strategy. There are ways to do this well and there are certainly pitfalls to avoid when using Blogs.
This article shares 8 Principles which will help to make sure your blog is helping your business rather than hindering it.
Principle 1: Blog Responsibly
The first thing ensure is that you blog responsibility in that you do not reveal sensitive commercial information about your company via your blog. The last thing that you want is for your competitors to know about your latest marketing strategy before even the public knows about it. This means you need to brief all your staff on the correct and incorrect use of your company's blog.
Principle 2: Know thyself and thy blogging
Make sure you keep up with the world of corporate blogging and recognise the changing face of the times. For example, the 'traditional' blog consisted of written posts of ideas, questions, notes, which would then be commented upon by various other bloggers and users. Nowadays the scene is changing and blogs are becoming much more creative, adding elements of multimedia including audio and video
(General Motors' blog is a great example: http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/).
Principle 3: Know thy enemy blogger
There are some incredible blogs out there doing very innovative stuff and one of the best ways to make sure your company becomes one of them is to 'creatively emulate'. Do what Cory Miller suggests and 'study the great blogs and learn what makes them great'. This will not only inspire you but also give you great strategies.
Principle 4: Blog effectively
You need to know when a certain blogging strategy is working and when it isn't. For example, the guidelines of Thomas Nelson Publishing suggest that company blogs be hosted separately by employees themselves for the sake of isolating individual opinions from direct contact with the company. However, smaller companies might find that it's much more effective to allow employees to host blogs directly on their site to project a more family-oriented atmosphere. In such cases, speaking directly to employees about what subjects to avoid would be a necessary addition.
Principle 5: Blog with Vision
Be a visionary. When you are studying competitors' blogs you may get a sense of coming trends and future developments. When you get flashes of inspiration about future possibilities, make a point of making your blog the first to implement them. Then you are leading the way rather than following.
Principle 6: Blog with Depth
This implies that you're always looking for the unseen advantages of blogging, which means looking at corporate blogging for what it is: an effective TOOL for marketing and advertising. By keeping your eye on the ball you always know WHY, HOW to, and how NOT to blog. The best corporate bloggers always look at blogging in this way.
Principle 7: Keep note of blogging details
Imagine your blog is like a plant that grows when you give it energy and attention. Don't just create the blog and leave it to die a miserable death - plan to maintain it over time, and it will serve you well. Keep an eye on your blog, note what is happening and you will find this gives you clarity on where to go with your blog and your next best steps.
Principle 8: Avoid blog overuse
Always remember that blogging is just one strategy that can serve your internet marketing efforts. There are plenty more internet marketing strategies that are just as effective and can also be used in conjunction with a blog strategy.
Understanding the Good, The Blog and the Ugly is about realizing how to get the best out of your company blog and avoiding any negative consequences. When you follow the 8 steps to effective blogging you will be off to a good start.
If you're thinking about starting an external blog for your company, you might want to lay down a few rules for employees regarding safe blogging, since it can be read by anyone. Examples range from avoiding slander to divulging sensitive company secrets and product information.
A lot of bloggers use free blogging services such as www.blogger.com. I advise you to get your blog going with Wordpress or Moveable Type on your own domain as these will give you a lot more control over your blog.
http://www.wordpress.org http://www.movabletype.org/
Both of these services provide a lot of support and help materials to get started. You will be blogging successfully in no time!
About the Author
Author Christopher B. Marquis is behind Australian Blogs, a 'clearing house' of information on the Australian Blogosphere. Visit the site for more great blogging strategies and news.
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