Ancillary Benefits of Blogging

1. Blogging makes you a better thinker
2. Blogging makes you a better listener
3. Blogging makes you a better writer
4. Blogging makes you a better salesperson
5. Blogging keeps you focused on learning
6. Blogging makes you a better networker

Blogging makes you a better thinker
In an effort to create content for a blog that is succinct, it can reveal new ways to look at common things, or apply simple solutions to seemingly complex problems.

Blogging makes you a better listener
By listening with a writer’s ear, you will find yourself coming up with blog ideas simply by listening to others discuss unrelated subjects.

Blogging makes you a better writer
By writing every day, you will naturally become a better writer. In addition to practice, writing publicly also allows for community reaction to help you get better faster.

Blogging makes you a better salesperson
By clearly stating idea pitches in writing, you will find that it has improved your ability to quickly articulate them in selling. It’s like you build up this reserve bank of preprogrammed discussion points.

Blogging keeps you focused on learning
The discipline required to create even somewhat interesting content, requires that you stay on top of current trends, what’s being said and what’s not being said in order to find ways to apply it to the world of small business.

Blogging makes you a better networker
By blogging on a regular basis, your regular readership will grow over time, growing your network beyond where it currently is.

Final Thoughts

It takes time.
You will not see immediate gains from your blog. Blogs are not a magic bullet to the top of the engines. They require working hard and smart – especially smart. However the payoff can be significant.

Be responsive.
The blogosphere is all about two-way communication — a blog is not simply an outlet for your message, but a tool for engaging in a conversation. Readers want to see that the person or people who are writing the blog are actually invested in its content and willing to read and respond to comments. The goal is to make your organization’s or corporation’s voice heard as part of ongoing conversation about policy issues.

Have a well-thought-through plan.
Too often a blog gets started amid a great deal of hype and publicity, but then quickly loses wind as posts become more and more sporadic. A lack of fresh content and infrequent updates will make it clear to readers that the company isn’t really taking its blog seriously. It is better not to create a blog at all than to launch one with only a halfhearted effort.

Read part one

Read part two

How to be successful with your Blog

1. Make it personal
2. Share your knowledge
3. Don’t over analyze your posts for more than errors and readability
4. Consistency
5. Read and Comment on great blogs
6. Longevity in posting
7. Be controversial, but not rude
8. Be relevent

Make it personal
While it is a corporate blog, don’t be afraid to show some humanity. Despite its label, a “corporate” blog has to have a real personality as its primary voice.

Share Your Knowledge
You know a great deal about your business. Share your successes and failures. Encourage those who are looking learn about your business topic by providing them with insights that would have helped you when you were first starting out. Don’t be concerned with “giving away your secrets” and helping to the competition. Blogging is in it’s infancy. Those of you who are positioning yourselves as experts in your field will reap the rewards as customers look for the experts in Google and see your name pop up. Additionally, you can enjoy the benefits of expert status offline. Further, giving away something of value for nothing has always been great PR.

Don’t over analyze your posts for more than errors and readability
If you second guess all your posts you’ll never release anything of value. Just write it, read it and post it. Don’t spend a week on one post. While you may spend a week on research (or more), a week to write a post on a regular basis is not practical for a business blogger.

Consistency
Frequent and consistent posting is almost as good as quality posting. Give them a reason to subscribe and a reason to keep coming back to the site. Frequently updated sites get more traffic.

Read and Comment on Great Blogs
Find some great blogs and digest everything they have to say. Learn from those who now are where you want to be soon. Look to the great business bloggers to understand what they are doing (note their content, their discussions off their blog, their passion and their wit).

Longevity in posting
What you write today, while it pushes off your front page rather quickly, doesn’t disappear. It will be available in the search engines’ archives forever. Make sure it represents you and your company well and is a topic that will be popularly searched for a long time.

Be controversial, but not rude
It is good to have an opinion and a strong point of view. You should be willing to throw down a gauntlet, but don’t do it all the time.

Be relevant
You want to plan a blog that caters to the specific target audience on which your business focuses.

Read part one

Read part three