Blogging for Business

Blogging is no longer just for teenagers with too much time on their hands or pundits with a passion for politics. In a very short time, it's become a mainstream tool for business. A successful blog can establish you as an expert in your field, help win new customers and communicate your thoughts to staff in far-flung locations. For a small business or a consultant, a blog creates an online presence, even if you don't have a website.

Before you leap into the burgeoning blogosphere, first understand the mechanics of blogging by reading our article, Of Blogs and Bloggers. As you'll see, the upside of blogging includes its low cost and the ease of publishing, especially for the technically challenged; the downside is the investment of time to write regularly. Unless you or someone in your company is committed to blogging, stop right here.

But assuming you want to move ahead, spend some time reading blogs related to your business or profession.

Very quickly you'll see that business-related blogs have characteristics different than other company communications. Unlike press releases, blogs sport a personality, a unique voice that reflects the point-of-view of the writer. There's also an informality that makes a blog more like a personal letter than a memo.

Once you feel comfortable with the medium, take some time to reflect on the six questions below:

Like building a website, it's critical to understand why you're publishing a blog. Is it to establish a relationship with clients and customers, to influence public policy, to share information within your organization? The answers to these questions will define the content of your blog.

Are you writing for the general public, for your professional colleagues, for your customers? Again, identifying your audience is crucial for crafting content.

This may be the most important question. Someone must accept ongoing responsibility, otherwise the blog will be short-lived. Also, as you now know, blogs have a personal voice, which typically reflects the style and tone of its author. That's what makes blogs unique. In effect, the blogger becomes the voice of the company and that may attract customers. So you can see that the person writing the blog is the key to its success.

The specific content should relate to your business, otherwise, why do it? But you must offer a unique perspective on a particular topic or issue, not just duplicate what already exists. With over 10 million blogs worldwide, why should someone spend time reading yours? What makes it special? Find your niche.

Content will certainly be different depending on your target audience. For example, if you're writing for professionals in your field you can use jargon that might confound the general public. But regardless of the audience, remember that blogs are publicly available, so don't reveal proprietary information, as your competition will be reading it too. Also, be aware of copyright restrictions on anything you publish online. And make sure you don't libel anyone or create too much controversy. Other bloggers love to read--and comment upon--what fellow bloggers have to say. Most companies don't want to inflame passions.

On a practical level, avoid spelling and grammatical errors. Proofread everything before posting it.

Be sure to include links to other online resources and other blogs. To some extent, that's what blogging is all about.

Finally, keep your postings short and to the point. No one likes to read lengthy text online.

Readers expect content to be fresh and updated regularly, similar to a newspaper column. New content keeps them coming back, which is why many bloggers post daily and some more often then that. Depending on the content of your blog, this may be too frequent. At a minimum though, plan to post at least three days a week, more often if events warrant.

There's no reason to blog if no one knows about it, so promotion is essential. If you have a website, prominently link to your blog. You can also submit your blog to various search engines and blog directories.

An excellent way to distribute your content is via Really Simply Syndication or RSS. You may have seen the red RSS symbol on blogs and websites. Here's how it works: A reader can "subscribe" to a feed from your blog. When you post new information, the RSS newsreader collects it and displays a headline, description, date and link. That way, the latest information is delivered automatically. To learn how to syndicate your blog, visit RSS Specifications.

As you might expect, there are all sorts of publications about business blogging. A few to check out include:

• Tom Raftery's I.T. views
• Case study: Western States Information Network

Last update: Jan 19, 2010