Blogging is easy. If you are frequent reader of this blog, you know that that I am a big believer in this dynamic method of communication; it is a great way to create a personal dialog with your customers and prospects (and whoever else reads it). A side benefit of a blog is that it refreshes your website with new content with every entry and this pleases the major search engines. Your reward will include a higher search ranking and your site will be found with greater frequency.
But, before you launch your own blog please consider the following things:
• Make sure that your website is up to date with lots of content. This is important since the “call to action” for most blogs is to visit the author’s website.
• Does your target audience read blogs? Certainly younger demographics do, along with the technology crowd. Grandma and Grandpa may not read blogs yet, but give them time.
• Is there a need for this type of forum in your industry? I think the answer would be yes for most industries, but there may be some commodity businesses when a discussion is not really needed. Truthfully, I am hard pressed to find an industry where a blog will not provide value.
• If your blog is public (and that is the only reason to do this anyway), will you be comfortable tackling tough issues in front of your customers, prospects, and competitors? This could earn you praise and criticism. I think a good blog calls it like it is and controversy may come with the territory.
• Make sure that you are up for the commitment of routinely writing or it will not be worth your time. A good rule of thumb is to blog three to five times a week (there are no hard and fast rules).
• Good blogs target a specific target audience and speak to the needs, issues, and problems of that audience. It is not about you and it is all about them.
• Blog software is free in most cases. I use WordPress and it works fine for me.
• I think blogs are best when written in the first person with an informal and direct style. Think 8th grade grammar and sentence structure.
• Do you like to write and are you good at it? I know that is a simple question, but if it hurts you to write, don’t start a blog.
• The secret to good writing is good editing. It goes like this: write, edit, edit again, and be sure to edit again.
• Find a blog mentor who has a blog and has learned how to do it the hard way. Maybe she or he can you save you some time.
• Be humble and expect a lot of feedback.
John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2007 All rights reserved.