Focused Blogging Gets Results

This blog entry was posted on January 11, 2008.

Is your blog writing focused or unfocused? Should you have a purpose for your blogging? If you want good results, your blog should reflect your goals.

Business blog marketing is very different than personal blogging. Personal blogs in many instances are a form of an online diary. Business blogs on the other hand should be focused toward a purpose. This could be branding, building a readership, etc.

What happens when a blog is unfocused?

1. Readers are confused: Mixing subjects is hard on your audience. A blog that is about commercial real estate should not give advice on relationships. Readers are less likely to return to a blog that discusses a variety of topics.
2. Damages your image: Rambling shows lack of focus and disorganization. Readers interpret this as someone that can’t stay on task. If branding yourself as an expert is important, then a focused blog is important.
3. Lower Search Rankings: Aimlessly wandering postings confuse the search engines and they are not able to identify the topic of your blog. An unfocused blog is unlikely to appear on the important first page of search engine results.

Blogs that are focused on a central topic will:

1. Build up a loyal readership much more quickly.
2. Bring in targeted visitors.
3. Get regular returning visitors
4. Connect with your audience.
5. Separates your blog from others in your field.
6. Create a more professional image.
7. Cause you to think more deeply and write better.
8. Develop respect for you as an expert by your readers.
9. Generate higher quality sales leads.
10. Get better search engine rankings.

The bottom line is that if you want good results, you need to plan and follow that blogging plan.

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Corporate Blogs: The Blogging Policy

This blog entry was posted on January 9, 2008.

Blogging is a powerful communications tool that is being used by businesses large and small. In larger organizations, blogging can pose a serious risk to information security without internal guidelines. It is essential to have a blogging policy that makes employees aware what kinds of things can and cannot be discussed in either company blogs or their own private blogs.

Not having a corporate blogging policy allows your employees to cross the line even if they do not have those intentions. Taboo subjects usually include proprietary and confidential information.

What should be said to employees in a basic blogging policy?

1. You are personally responsible for what you write.
2. Follow existing company policies and rules.
3. Keep our confidential information a secret.
4. Use restraint, respect and etiquette.
5. Show respect for the company, its customers, its vendors and employees.
6. In blogging you must add value, be accurate and write about what you know.
7. You must follow all related laws to blogging; (SEC rules on public disclosure, copyright, etc.)

Examples from Corporate Blogging Policies

1. Place boundaries on what can be discussed. As an example, Direct2Dell does not allow postings dealing with political, legal or financial matters. They do not allow discussions unrelated to their business.
2. Don’t disclose secrets. Sun Microsystems advises their employees to use common sense in what they blog about. Employees are responsible for protecting proprietary and confidential information.
3. Use a disclaimer. IBM requires employees to disclose that views and opinions presented in the blog are not necessarily the those of IBM. This is for all blogs; personal or corporate.
4. Prior Approval. The US Army now allows soldiers to blog without prior approval if their topic is not related to the military and they are not using military equipment.

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Corporate Blogs: Business Blogs on Steroids

This blog entry was posted on January 7, 2008.

Corporate blogs are business blogs, but for larger organizations. Business blog marketing when applied to larger companies becomes more complex because of the size of the organization. The end results are still the same. They help put a human face on the company allowing for direct communication and discussion. The corporate blog helps these companies reach their organizational goals.

Corporate blogs can be either internal or external blogs.

Internal blogs are used as a communication tool within the organization. They are usually placed on the company Intranet where only employees can view. These can be used in lieu of meetings and e-mail discussions. They are very effective when schedules or employee locations make meetings impractical. Ideas can be categorized by topic, person and date making archiving ideas and conversations easy.

Frequent uses: Build and strengthen organizational culture, communicate company knowledge and provide teams with an effective collaboration tool.

External blogs are the new public relations tool being used to engage the customer community. These are publicly viewable sites that act as a window into the company itself. They make product announcements, explain policies, rally support, react to criticism and communicate to the outside world. There is also a special type of external blog, the CEO blog where the CEO communicates directly to the outside world.

Frequent uses: To strengthen the brand, to build and strengthen relationships and to market or sell products and services.

Companies that develop a good corporate blogging strategy are able to capture the goodwill of their community. Companies that connect with their audience and provide real value develop a loyal following. Companies that engage with their customers are able to harness the power of new ideas and feedback. Rewards include sales gains and a positive brand image. Corporate blogs really are the new PR.

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Monitoring for Market Intelligence

This blog entry was posted on January 5, 2008.

The blogosphere is made up of hundreds of millions of blog postings that reflect all aspects of life and business. This large pool of information is completely searchable using blog search engines. This information can also be retrieved automatically every time a brand name or keyword is used using Google Alerts.

Businesses involved in blog marketing are using the blogosphere for marketing intelligence. Companies are monitoring the public buzz. They listen to what their customers are saying, what their competitors are saying and what new directions their market is heading. If your company is not listening to what is being said, you are missing out on important source for market intelligence.

About You: Discussions take place in real time. These include discussions about your brand and customer perceptions. Before establishing a blog presence, Dell used common tools such as de.licio.us and Technorati to monitor customer perceptions. They then launched their own Dell blog to address issues.

Customers: From your customers you can learn what directions they are taking their business. You can learn the challenges they are facing which may mean opportunities for your business. What are their motivations and why do the make their buying decisions?

Competitors: From your competitors you can learn what new directions or technologies they are considering. Listen to what your competitor’s customers are saying? Are they satisfied or are they ready to make a change? Monitoring your competitor press releases can give access to breaking news and research.

Market: The blogosphere is full of conversations about every conceivable market and industry. Is your market changing with some new technology that is being adopted? Learn about factors, concerns and excitement that are affecting the long-term growth rate of your industry.

The blogosphere is full of information and speculation that can open new opportunities if you are willing to listen. Keep an eye on your most direct competition or even more importantly, their largest customers to give you a leading indicator of change. Use blogs as a way to listen to and involve customers.

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7 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers

This blog entry was posted on January 3, 2008.

Effective blogging uses many of the concepts from one of my favorite books: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey. These following seven habits help bloggers to be better business blog marketers.

1. Blog proactively. By this I mean be a leader and an expert. This means thinking and acting ahead and not just reacting to situations. Let your personality out and be authentic and honest. Deliver content based on your principles and values.
2. Blog with a plan in mind. Know the purpose of your blog and who your targeted audience is. Create a content plan that focuses on your niche market. Choose subjects and topics that will be especially interesting to your targeted readers.
3. Put your plan into action. Write original interesting postings that focus on your targeted topics. Address the interests of your targeted audience. Use blog titles that catch the reader’s attention. Most of all stay focused.
4. Think win-win. This is an important secret to personal and professional success. Encourage fellow bloggers; especially beginners give credit and links as often as possible. Give useful information to your readers and be liberal in giving helpful advice.
5. Understand your readers. Make your blog interesting and easy to use for your targeted readers. Use your traffic statistics and the comments you receive as feedback on which topics create the most interest.
6. Think collaboration. Blogging is a social media and is meant to involve people. Actively participate in commenting by leaving insightful and appropriate comments. Encourage comments and respond in a way that establishes relationship with your readers.
7. Improve yourself. Blog regularly and set a regular time and place for blogging. Budget time as part of your schedule. Read other blogs regularly to generate ideas and to interact with others. Investigate new ideas and expand your understanding for personal growth.

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Why Blogs Are Better Than Websites

This blog entry was posted on January 1, 2008.

Blogs are the online magazine of today that more and more people are turning to for their information. Businesses have adopted blogs and are using business blog marketing as a major strategy to build up their brand and attract new customers. Why?

1. Blogs are active and websites are passive. Blogs broadcast their content out to the web via RSS every time there is something new. Websites on the other hand wait to be discovered by search engine spiders. It’s like the difference between fishing and hunting. You can sit and wait for fish or you can actively hunt and pursue.
2. Blogs are faster. Posting and syndication is almost instantaneous. Technorati and other blog search engines index and list your postings within minutes after you publish.
3. Blogs build a readership. It is easy for visitors to subscribe to a blog so they can view new postings as soon as they happen. Blogs encourage repeat visits with content being delivered to your favorite reader or delivery by email. Compare this to bookmarking a website which depends on the visitor to come back.
4. Blogs have newer fresher content. By their nature, blogs have regular fresh content and they are more up to date. Blogs tend to deal with breaking events and technology insights.
5. Blogs invite participation and interaction. Blog conversations are encouraged providing multiple viewpoints and discussions. Comments can be made easily from each page.
6. Blogs make it personal. Blog writing is more informal and conversational. It allows the writer’s personality to make it more alive and interesting. Websites on the other hand are more formal and tend to be written in marketing speak.
7. Blogs are easier. You don’t need to understand HTML to publish your thoughts and opinions. The content management systems on blogs allow you to type, format and add pictures as easily as you can in a word processing program.
8. Blogs allow scheduling. You can pre-write your postings and schedule them to appear at a given time and on a given day. This means you and work ahead and have your postings appear even when you are on vacation. Working ahead may make it harder to talk about current happenings, but it sure is convenient.

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