If you’ve been thinking about whether or not to start a blog for your company, there are quite a few things to take into consideration. Two of the most important considerations, in my humble opinion, are these:

Commitment for Consistency

Can you commit the time for at least one blog post per week and work your way up to two or three? Consistency is one of the keys to blogging success, so it’s better not to start a blog unless you can devote the time to keep it going on a consistent basis.

Nothing looks worse than starting to read a blog that seems interesting only to realize it was posted two years ago and the blog hasn’t been updated since then. This is definitely something you want to avoid. So think about your commitment to be consistent with your posts before you launch your blog.

Making Sure the Right Person or Persons are Blogging

Can you or someone in your company be the designated blogger? Choosing who will write is paramount since this person will basically represent your company. One trend many companies employ is having several people within the company write about various aspects of the business.

This is a great plan since it doesn’t over tax one person. If you have 4 people who can write and have something interesting to say, you can cover your blog for a month and each person is responsible for writing only one post per week. Additionally, there should be a plan in place for someone to be in charge of making sure the blog is updated consistently, especially if multiple writers are involved.

Take a Long-Term Approach

Blogging is a fantastic opportunity for you to promote your company, products or services, but taking a long-term approach is the smartest plan. Just as it is with most business strategies, making sure you have the manpower and the time to make a strong commitment is the best plan for success.

In Part 1   of this blog post, I talked about why setting specific goals is important to the success of your blog. The second part of this article will help you determine what those goals are.

A Brainstorming Session Is a Great Place to Begin

Gather everyone together who will be involved in the blogging process and throw your ideas around to see what emerges.

Ask relevant questions  to help determine your goals and establish your reasons for wanting to begin a blog.

• Do you want your blog to attract visitors who might become future clients to your site? Who are they?
• Are you trying to connect to other businesses in your industry? Who are they?
• Is it important that your blog increase your presence on the Web in your industry? Why?
• How often can you post a blog article and can you be consistent? This is an important goal. Start with at least one blog post each week and then re-establish this goal as you can increase the number consistently.
• Who is the best person (or the best people) to represent your company in your blog? Start with one or two and then try to include others in writing, which can also increase your weekly number of blog posts.
• How will you track your success? Setting a goal is one thing, knowing when you reach it is just as important.

Watch The Future of Your Blog Come to Life

As your group brainstorms, you will begin to see the future of your blog materialize and you will have a definite starting point – very important! As the weeks roll by and your blog becomes more and more a part of your company’s presence on the Internet, hopefully your ideas will continue to emerge. Keep setting new goals as you grow your blog.

If you can gain interaction with others in your industry, your blog will not only be helpful to your business, you will be helpful to others as well – this is called community and it is one of the most rewarding elements of blogging. 

So you’ve decided you want to create a company blog. Fantastic! The next step is to figure out exactly how to get your blog going to make it worthwhile and valuable for your company.

Initially, it is important to evaluate what blogging can do for your business and determine how you want to approach the whole idea of your blog.

Specific Goals Are Important for Successful Blog

Sometimes I think we have goals (or ideas) in our minds when we start a new project or task, but, for me, unless I make a tangible plan, I don’t always realize whether I am accomplishing enough. Fleshing out our ideas can turn into quality goals and help guide our way into any new adventure.

The more I’ve learned about blogging and the more I read what others have to say about blogging, the more I realize you need to have very specific goals for your blogs if you want them to be successful. Without understanding what you want to accomplish, it will be very hard to determine what to write about in a blog.

Visit us again on Thursday to learn more about setting goals for your company blog in Part 2 .

In Part 1  of this blog post, I talked about some of the main reasons a company should blog. The second part of this article will discuss additional ways to create a successful blog for your company.

Build a Community and Become a Reliable Resource for Others with your Blog

One of the goals of a blog is to build a community of readers who will be interested enough in what you’re blogging about to come back and visit frequently. As they share your site with others, and others share your site with others, pretty soon your community has grown in number without your having to do a whole lot – except keep blogging. This is one of the greatest benefits of having a company blog. 

Another benefit for you and your readers is to be the place people want to come back to for more good information. Most anyone in the world of blogging will tell you that one of the best things you can do for yourself as a blogger is to become a resource for others. This means not making your blog entirely about you and your company, but instead including links to other information of relevance, mentioning others in your blog posts and directing your readers to all types of helpful information through your blog.

It’s really important to be honest and sincere in your blogging efforts to gain credibility. If your only goal is to promote yourself, others will see through this and move on to more helpful blogs.

It’s a Brave New World of Media in the 21st Century

We’ve entered a new and different world of media and marketing techniques in recent years. Our world has changed from the time when all of the experts were completely unapproachable via radio, TV and print media. Now we can all have a voice! 

It’s an interactive world out there, and if we take the time to listen to others and share our ideas with each other, there is much we can learn and many ways we can benefit each other. Blogging is a simple way to do just that.

Now that’s not so scary after all, is it? 

If you’re a business owner and you’re paying attention, you’re hearing a lot about Social Media and blogging. You may be in the same boat as lots of other business owners – you have no idea how to break into the social media scene and you don’t really know what a blog is!

Maybe The Blog sounds like a scary monster who lives in the swamp and appears only at dusk through a cloud of fog and dampness. Don’t be afraid, blogging really isn’t as scary as you may think.

Yes, it’s an amazingly fast growing phenomenon; and let’s face it, in our current economic situation, many business owners haven’t had time to keep one up. So I hope to give you something to think about and help you uncover the mystery of The Blog!

Gain Exposure on the Web Through Blogging for Your Company

There are many reasons a company should get in on the social media scene. One of the main ways to do this is with a blog - it is the perfect way to get more exposure for your products or services with relative ease and not much expense. Besides, you don’t want to be left out of one of the fastest growing methods of Internet Marketing of the decade!

Blogging is one of the primary elements of a social media campaign. It is the central core of an entire social media strategy. Without a blog, your efforts to use other Social Media tools such as Facebook and Twitter probably won’t be as effective.

Blogging is the perfect platform to talk about your business in a casual way to draw other people to your blog and ultimately to your Web site, your Facebook page and to get people interested in following you on Twitter.

Visit us again on Thursday to learn more about the benefits of blogging in Part 2.
 

In any type of marketing campaign, we have to pitch our products, services and our company if we want to get new business and make our presence known. And so it is with a blog - we want others to like our blog, mention our blog, and comment on our blog. That’s the name of the game in helping to build a larger community of readers.

So the question is, what is the right way to pitch your blogs? As with most anything else, there is a right and a wrong way to go about pitching a blog to get the results you want. Here are a few pointers to get you going in the right direction.

Before You Pitch Your Blog

• Read other blogs posts and find out who is blogging about things that will be useful and of interest to your own readers.
• Comment on other blogs. Make relevant, informative comments regarding the content.
• Contact the person who is writing the blog before you send your pitch.
• Be organized and make sure you know which sites will be best the target audience.
• Check to find out if there is a policy about accepting pitches.

When You Pitch Your Blog

• Address the person by name.
• Send your pitch to the correct email address, not webmaster.
• Send an individual email to the person, not mass emails.
• Be up front and honest about who you are and who you work for.
• Make sure your email is friendly in tone.
• Reference specific posts you found interesting.
• Explain why you feel your blog will be of interest to their audience too.

Building a Strong Community is the Reason to Pitch Your Blog

The more you blog, the more you will find others with whom you have common interests and things to share. Blogging is about sharing ideas and helping others to share theirs. The more you help others, the more they will help you. Perhaps that’s why it’s called building a community.

A community is only as strong as those who live in it and we all know that helping others is what makes any community strong. A blogging community works the same way. So pitch your blog to others and respond when others pitch their blog to you.
 

One of the most significant things you can do as a blogger is to give high priority to the importance of blog post titles. Good keyword-rich titles help rankings with search engine results and deserve a good deal of thought – every time!

All writers have their own strategies, and what works best for some may not work for another person. When I begin writing, I have a topic in mind, but I don’t actually give my blog post a title until I’ve finished writing it. I may start with one title and change it quite a few times before deciding on the final one.

Selecting Keywords and Keyword Search Tools

So how does one go about choosing keywords? Well, obviously, it depends on what you’re writing about.

If I were planning to remodel my kitchen and wanted to purchase new kitchen cabinets, how would I search for ideas on the Internet – kitchen cabinets, kitchen cabinet, kitchen remodeling, cabinets, etc. All the different ways one can search for a particular topic or item are basically keywords.

When you think of keywords, you should think of what word someone would use to search for the particular item or topic.

But that’s not the only way. There are many helpful tools out there – some of them for free – that are incredibly helpful in choosing the very best keywords. SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool  and Google AdWords  are two popular tools.

Keyword Placement is Important in Titles

While you may be tempted to choose cute, catchy titles for your blog posts, don’t do it! Of course, you want your titles to catch the attention of your audience since you do actually want someone to read your posts, but there is a difference in catching attention and being catchy!

If I see a title that catches my attention and then the article is about something totally different, I am immediately irritated. So I don’t want to do that to anyone else.  Make sure the main title contains keywords and it tells the readers what they are really going to read about.

In Meta Titles the most prominent keyword should be placed at the beginning or as close to the beginning as possible. The Meta Title doesn’t have to be the same as the title that appears at the top of the blog post – it can actually be longer, but it is imperative that keywords are placed early in the title to make them more likely to be found by search engines. And after all, you want to make the Search Engines happy!