For those thinking about starting a corporate blog, there are a few caveats that should be considered before you ever throw your hat in the arena. The blogosphere can be a scary place if you are not prepared and it is easy to have a disaster of epic proportions on your hands without even realizing it. There are numerous stories of corporate blogging disasters and while they can be amusing, the owners of the companies affected probably would not agree.

A corporate blog is a unique tool that allows you to reach out to the public, increase brand awareness and build up your customer base. It is also a tool that has the potential to cause irreparable damage. You don’t want your blog to go down in flames, and you certainly don’t want it to take your company with it. Here are some tips to help you avoid the most common blogging disasters.

1. Pick your bloggers well.

If you will not be doing your own blogging, this usually means that the task falls to an employee. You will need to make sure that they are well balanced, can handle criticism and can post in an articulate and friendly manner. Think of this blogger as a public speaker – would they present the right face for your company to the public?

You also need to make sure that the employee is a stable individual that is not prone to bursts of anger or being disgruntled. You don’t want your company’s dirty laundry aired to the world and it only takes one angry blogger to turn the tide against you. If you end up firing a blogger, make sure that you remove their posting capabilities BEFORE you do so that they don’t have a chance to post one last burning missive.

2. Be consistent.

If you decide to allow comments on your blog, great. Just don’t change your mind. This gives an incredibly bad image of your company and makes it seem as though you have something to hide. Likewise, refusing to allow comments on your blog can give the same impression. Find the balance by using comment moderation tools to weed out bad comments and let the good ones through.

3. Always remain professional.

Your corporate blog is not the place to get overly personal. You may be having a bad day, you may hate your job, you may want to stick it to your spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend but your corporate blog is not the place to air these subjects. Always keep your private thoughts private – they just don’t belong on your blog. Keep your posts friendly and open, but make sure that you never cross that line.

By utilizing these three simple rules, you can avoid becoming a blogging disaster for the history books. If you have never blogged before, or you prefer not to leave your company’s future in the hands of an employee, it is a good idea to get some help with your blog. There are blog management services that specialize in helping you present the right image and get your message across.

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Originally posted 2008-07-15 05:25:42. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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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 3 in a short series on tips for making blogging work for you.

12 – Listen to what people are saying when they talk about you.

There are a wide variety of different tools that you can use in order to monitor the conversation. One of the most popular ones is to set up a Google Alert with your name, along with another for the name of your blog, and other alerts for topics that are important to you. Google will send you an e-mail any time one of your key terms is mentioned online.

13 – Find new ways to publicize your blog to your entire network.

Print the URL of your blog on your business cards; include it in your e-mail signature, post it on your LinkedIn account, mention it in your Facebook account, Twitter it, and find plenty of other ways to get the word out about your blog. The more you most your blog URL on the internet, the more likely you will be to have it seen.

14 – Install Analytic Software, allowing you to track your traffic and where it is coming from.

One of the most popular options is Google Analytics, which can be found at http://www.google.com/Analytics for free. Another excellent tool worth considering is Quantcast, which is especially useful when you are selling advertising on your site and want to be able to define your audience, measuring your site capabilities based on your traffic.

15 – Create content that is both useful and timely for your blog.

This is well worth mentioning, because content is what fuels a blog and keeps readers coming back to it for more. You also need to consider the search engine optimization value for your blog and its content. Your blog content should be search engine optimized in order for you to get the most out of your blog.

16 – Use audio, video, photos and other rich media to bring your blog to life.

Different people respond to different types of media in different ways. Create a blog radio show, or host a show with topics relating to your industry and pepper your blog with these media pieces in addition to your normal blog topics. Podcasts are another excellent way to get the most out of your corporate blog, giving your readers other forms of media to take advantage of.

17 – Make it easy for your readers to get in contact with you.

Give your readers numerous means of contacting you, including an e-mail address, a phone number, the location of your office, and anything else that will allow your readers to find you.

There are plenty of other ways to get the most out of your corporate blog, but these seventeen tips provide an excellent jumping off point to build your blog from.

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Originally posted 2009-01-21 05:17:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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The first question that needs answering when it comes to journeying down the path to creating a social media endeavor like a corporate blog is “Why?” For business, it is already expected that a company have a website presence, but what do consumers really want to see when they try to research you or your company online? The truth is, when consumers and other people begin to research you online, they are preferring to read what other people are saying about you, or they are looking for a chance to see you in action, reading about your expertise, how you solve problems, and so on.

Newsletters, testimonial ads and standard website content are excellent at getting the word out about your company, and they will never be completely replaced by blogging, but they are all clearly one way forms of communication. If you send out too many newsletters, your readers may stop paying attention, or they may regard your correspondence as spam outright. On the other hand, for those who prefer to receive information via e-mail, blogging is still quite the viable option.

Blogs allow you to reach out to your customers and other consumers more easily than ever, by allowing you to:

- Provide information and resources that are topical and relevant on a regular basis,
- Receive feedback from your readers, engaging them in discussions that are relevant specifically to them,
- Distribute your content on a much greater scale thanks to search engines and RSS feeds.

Additionally, blogs give your readers and customers a lot of additional capabilities, including the chance to:

- Receive regular updates from you,
- Receive updates from you when they want to, and if they want to, rather than on your schedule,
- Take things away from your blog, sharing them with their network
- Find you more easily through search because of tagging and keywords.

Chances are, your customers are finding new ways to become connected now than in the past. Blogs will give you more juice with Google, and they will also allow you to differentiate yourself much more clearly from other businesses, and all it takes is a little bit of personality, and a little bit of work. Corporate blogging is all about pouring your passion for your company into a medium that your customers will gladly respond to. Internet users love blogs, and are attracted to blogs, so by writing in a blog, you can touch your customers past, present and future in new ways, giving them a reason to work with your company.

Now that you know why blogs are so important, and now that you understand what they can do for you and your company, the next step is obviously going to be to create your own blog. Your business can benefit in a number of ways when you run a corporate blog, so now is the time for you to implement corporate blogging in your marketing strategy for better business.

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Originally posted 2009-01-16 05:57:56. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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