Business Blogging
By Dean Higginbotham, CTO Mall23.com
Some of you have probably started your own blog. If not, I thought I'd give you a little nudge to get you going. I'm sure you've heard about blogging -- it is truly the current craze. With a little imagination & work,
you can use this blog frenzy as an excellent business tool, and mold it to serve and enhance your marketing efforts.
In my opinion, there are two types of "blogs". The first, and most common, is the classic newsletter -- emailed or snail-mailed. I call this a "push" blog. The second, newer one, is your typical Internet blog. More of a "pull" system. However, Internet blogs can become "push" via RSS feeds.
Why would a business want to blog?
If you are in the business of something, you're an expert. Whether you think you are or not. Be it web development or ecommerce, your customers have that impression. Use your blog to reinforce this belief. Your customers will return to you, as their "go-to" person, rather than one of your competitors.
Allowing employees to write blogs gives them a great way to express themselves and generate good new ideas that may have previously gone unspoken.
As you (or your employees) write blog articles, you will learn. Part of writing an article is research, and even if you truly are an expert, researching coalesces your knowledge and fills in any conceptual holes.
What are some of the benefits?
You are able to gain a level of intimacy with your customers that you wouldn't normally be able to reach. This is a similar effect TV or movie personalities have on their fans.
A blog is one method of generating customer feedback. You may write about a new idea or product to see if your existing customers would be responsive. Remember, blogs generally have "comments" sections (which may be moderated).
Central location for company news or new programs of interest. This is where you would include more informal and descriptive information than a standard press release or front-page news item.
Blogging helps with your SEO. Stay on-topic. Google generally indexes new blog pages within days.
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Did You Know...
- The blogosphere is doubling in size every 5 and a half months - with approximately 13.7 million bloggers.
- A "blog" is nothing more than a specialized system to allow authors to add information to a website without having to know how to program. Similar systems include Wikis, CMS, and dynamic eCommerce systems such as Mall23.
- Women (67.6%) are more likely to maintain a blog than men (32.4%). 2.1% are updated every 24 hours, while 11.4% are updated at least every 30 days.
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Why isn't everyone doing this?
Blogging does take time. And is work. Depending on your writing and researching skills, blogging may not be worth it for you if it eats up more time than it should.
ROI is difficult, if not impossible, to gauge. Especially at first.
Your blog may dilute other marketing efforts. Rather than looking at your marketing driven pages, users may stray to your more informal and long-winded (i.e.. not core, focused marketing) blog.
There are many legal issues. Generally bloggers are protected, but even if you do not violate any rules, there are those users who may cause problems.
Blogs, unless controlled, can reveal more than you would like. Watch that trade secrets and competitive advantages do not appear on your blog. Also, make sure to keep a lid on any internal strife or issues. Don't use your blog to "vent".
What mistakes should I avoid when I start blogging?
Create unique content. Copying content cheapens you and your blog, and reduces SEO effectiveness. Don't do it.
Don't add to your blog too often. Why not? It will wear you out. The quality of your articles will drop and your readers will loose interest. Also, blogging too often causes an initial spike in interest that soon turns to boredom. Make it more of a special occasion for users, so when they come back in a month, there are one or two new choice articles, rather than 50 bland ones.
Make sure to integrate the blog into your existing site.
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