Business Blog

It has taken a while, but corporations have seen the light when it comes to the necessity of a company blog. But having a blog and having a blog that is successful are two different things. Unfortunately, most corporate blogs fall into the first category and do not perform very well for various reasons.

The primary reason corporate blogs are not living up to their expectations is because the majority of them just plain suck. Most are really boring and read like a poorly put together collection of inter office memorandums.

Not really what your potential customers in the real world want to read, Joe CEO….

Nope, Mary Lou from Kalamazoo doesn’t care who your new senior vice president of marketing is. His name means nothing to her and the fact that he’s been brought on board is not going to motivate her to buy any of your products.

Because that’s really what it comes down to Joe… Getting real world clients to buy your products and services. To do that, you need to talk to your users, not at them.

How do you take a corporate blog and turn it into something viable?

You plan Joe, you plan.

Because without a plan, most corporate blogs go south super fast. So today, we’re going to make some suggestions on how to plan your company blog strategy.

Here we go:

1. Who?
Who is actually going to write your business blog? Are you going to have it done in house, or are you going to outsource it? If you plan to outsource your company blog, what qualifications does your pro blogger have? What do they know about you and your company? More important, what do they plan to do to learn more about your company so that they can blog effectively on your behalf?

2. What?
What are they going to blog about? If you have assigned your blog to one of your staff, have you given that staff member a clear view of your goals for the blog? If you are going to outsource your blogging, have you made a long list of the topics you would like to see written about? Have you told them what words and phrases you would like to see the company rank for in the search engines?

3. When?
How often are you going to update your blog? If you have hired a professional blogging service, how often are they going to add new content? If you plan to review each blog post, then what time of day do you want them to have it completed by? This is especially important to know if you plan to outsource and want to review their additions prior to publication.

4. Remember your readers
Don’t forget that there are real people on the other end of your blog. Sitting at their desks, reading what your blog writer has written. They are making decisions about you and your company based on your blog. So be sure not to lose site of them. Make your blog truly informative, even entertaining if possible. Be a real resource and your company will shine.

Now, all that being said, you can also overplan my friends. Corporations are notorious for red tape and foot dragging when it comes to actually bringing a project to life. Meanwhile, every day that passes, your competitors are gaining more ground with their blogs and websites. Because they are already blogging every day. Don’t get caught up in the red tape trap and spend the next six months planning your corporate blog strategy. The time to start blogging is now.

Create a company blog strategy and get moving……

The world is waiting.

Tags: blog strategy, business blog, Company Blogs, corporate blog

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