Are you ready to make blogging work for your business? If you already know the benefits associated with corporate blogging, then the next step is to put these concepts to work by creating your own corporate blog and sharing your company with the world. This is part 1 in a short series on tips for making blogging work for you.

1 – The first step is to find your domain name.

If you already have a website for your business, then the most advantageous option may be to attach your blog in some way to your normal business site. The next best thing would be to own the domain name that is most descriptive of your business when creating your blog. Either use your business name for your blog name, or your own name, so that you can help people link you and your blog with the company that you are intending to represent. Some of the most well known domain name registrars are GoDaddy, MyDomain, Register, PacNames and DotCalmDomains.

2 – Figure out which blogging tool or blogging platform is going to work best for you.

There are at least two different camps to consider when it comes to tools. The first is those who prefer self hosted blogs, and the second is those who prefer hosting tools. Where do you feel most comfortable? The decision is ultimately up to you but there are pros and cons associated with both options. Some of the options available to you are easily customizable hosted options like TypePad offered by SixApart, or Movable Type which offers more control than TypePad. If you want to host your own blog, WordPress may be more your style, as it offers a lot of customization and control and you can host it a lot more efficiently by yourself.

3 – Talk about yourself so your readers can get to know you.

Most blog templates have an “About” function. Use this wisely so that you may capture the true essence of who you are and what you are hoping to accomplish with your blog. You should aim to strike an excellent balance between human voice and “business speak” to show your readers that you mean business, but are just a passionate human being at the core.

4 – Register your blog and start spreading the word about your endeavor.

Get comfortable with your blog before you start speaking out about it. Once you have some content, and perhaps even a reader or two, you can start spreading the word about your blog. Register your blog at FeedBurner, available at http://www.feedburner.com so that you can provide RSS and e-mail feeds that people can use to gain access to your content. Technorati, at http://www.technorati.com is another excellent option as well as it will allow you to associate tags with your blog for better “findability”.

5 – Create a resource section or a blog roll to show your customers what you enjoy reading, or what resources you often visit.

Blog rolls are generous in two different ways, as not only do they allow people who you link to to find your blog, but they also help readers expand their knowledge by checking out the blogs that you recommend.

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Originally posted 2009-01-19 05:07:46. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Once your readers are sure that your blog is updated often, they will have a reason to continue coming back to check out the new content, because they know that they will find something new every time that they visit. Not only will they bookmark your blog, then, but they will also subscribe to your RSS feed if you have one. This is especially important when your blog is brand new, but once your blog gets the traction that it needs, the fresh content can slow down a little if you need it to. The first few months are absolutely critical, though, so the more content that you are capable of producing, the better off you will be.

3 – Make sure that you have a proper domain name.

If you truly are serious about blogging, you should be serious about what you name your blog. If you want people to be able to spread the word about your corporate blog, then you need a domain name that can be remembered and easily recalled as necessary. People often talk to other people about the blogs that they like or find interesting when talking to other people in their lives, so you need to make sure that your blog is easy to talk about, and that people can easily spread the news about your blog by referencing your domain name. If you can, try specifically to get a dot com name (.com), and focus on a domain name that is small and easy to understand, but that includes at least one keyword that lets readers know what your blog is about. If you can get a keyword that applies to your company and that your readers can easily remember, then you really have lucked out.

4 – Now that you have your blog set up, you should begin commenting on other blogs.

Once you begin posting your pillar articles as well as smaller, fresh daily articles, then it is time to begin exposing your blog to the rest of the world. One of the best ways that you can accomplish this is by commenting on other blogs that are in the same niche or industry as yours, in order to target the right types of readers for your own blog. You should aim to comment specifically on blogs that are focused on the same niche as yours, since the readers of those blogs will be most likely to find your comments and trace them back to your blog. Make sure to leave comments that are worthwhile, sharing your knowledge and other information rather than posting mundane comments, and make sure that your name and a link to your blog are posted with each comment that you make.

5 – Take advantage of track backs and link to other blogs when you are writing your blog posts.

Track backs are like blog conversations. Track backs can be placed for entries that you link to or reference in your own blog from another’s blog, leaving a truncated summary of your post on the blog entry that you referenced in your blog entry.

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