One of the best reasons to give corporate blogging a try is that it has the potential to really help you grow your business. If you are just establishing your online identity or if you are trying to actively increase your customer base and your sales, a corporate blog can make a big difference. There are many different ways that this type of communication can result in more sales and a larger customer base.

First, you’ll be adding content on a regular basis that covers a wide variety of topics. This means that there will be more content for search engines to index and more keywords used to ensure that you land in the top spot. This makes it much easier for new readers to discover not only your blog but your company as well. By taking the time to really work on a blog and publish it regularly, you can dramatically increase the number of visitors that your site sees every day.

Next, a corporate blog adds a level of humanity to any site. Many consumers perceive corporations as cold entities with little concern for the common man. By putting a name and a face to your company you’re creating a relationship and showing that there is a heart behind that business exterior. This is very effective at building up customer trust and is useful when you are trying to project a certain image for your company.

A corporate blog can also be used to connect with readers and get their feedback. While allowing comments on a blog can be scary, they are a great way for your customers to get their thoughts across. You’ll have a bird’s eye view of what your customers really want and this is a lot easier that relying on a focus group for the same thing. If you are concerned about allowing comments on your blog, you can always set them to moderation to avoid having any controversy erupt.

Lastly, a corporate blog helps you announce new products and specials – if you do it in the right way. Try to steer clear of blatant advertising and find ways to incorporate your announcements with current events. This helps you gain some powerful advertising that doesn’t cost a dime.

When you’re ready to start your own corporate blog it is important to make sure that you know how to handle it. It is much easier to hire a professional that knows how to run a corporate blog and keep it going in the right direction. You can actually end up saving money with this approach and you won’t have to worry about diverting company resources away from your other projects.

Corporate blogs can be powerful and effective but they do need to be managed properly. By working with a professional, you can ensure that your company will avoid common blogging pitfalls and you will be able to achieve the results discussed above as well as many other benefits.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-06-23 05:34:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Top Five Reasons Corporate Blogs Are Vital As more companies get into the world of corporate blogging, the word is spreading that this is a great way to reach out to the public. There are five specific benefits that any company can reap as a result of setting up a corporate blog. 1. Cheap means of marketing.......
• Blogging Advice for Small Business Are you a small business owner, and looking to generate more business through an online internet presence? If you have been considering putting together a blog for your business, the blogging advice detailed below is intended especially for you. Q: What should I be writing blog entries about? A: This......
• What Subjects Should You Cover? Choosing subjects to cover in your corporate blog is a lot like choosing the concept behind your corporate blog in the first place. When you decided to create a corporate blog, you probably had a pretty clear idea of what your main intention would be in writing for that blog.......
• Why Corporate Blogs Are So Important When it comes to reaching out to your customers or building up your customer base, a blog is a very powerful tool. Unfortunately, many companies do not take advantage of these benefits and they are missing out on some very powerful marketing techniques that are not only cost effective but......
• Are You Using Social Networking Enough for Your Corporate Blog? In this day and age, if you want to get the most out of your blog, then you need to do more than simply write in it. Many bloggers are finding that they can get a lot more out of their corporate blogs if they choose to combine their blogging......

• Search Engine Marketing Company- Take Your Business To New Heights Search engine marketing isn’t a new technique but with the changing trend it has gained a lot of popularity and importance. If we talk about the potential market, the UK is one country which carries true potential of search engine marketing. You can find the best and competitive search engine......
• Affordable Search Engine Optimization Within Reach Some years back businesses were throwing twenty-30k a month on search engine optimization; a minimum of the larger businesses were. The tiny business was arduous pressed to find search engine optimization for much less that truly worked. As of today the landscape of search engine optimization has changed. Many of......
• Blog Search Engine Optimization Blogging has become a truly popular form of media for the sharing of ideas, the facilitation of communication and other methods of collaboration on the internet, and as a result it has generated a great amount of interest and buzz traffic to all kinds of different website. When it comes......
• Blogging Basics One of the best ways to make more money, even with limited marketing funds, is to create a blog. Blogs are relatively simple to set up, and even easier to use! One of the secrets to successful blogging, is to create quality content and post it frequently to your blog. By......
• How to Achieve a Success in Runet? Invest in Search Engine Marketing! Many people say that search engines are the future of the business. If your company is not present on search engine ranking pages, most probably this will have a major influence on the profits, awareness and competitiveness. We search for business partners, suppliers and services in different ways and languages......

Although corporate blogging can be a powerful tool, there is a time when it can get pretty dicey. Without proper management, a blog can be a disaster that can end up ruining your corporate image. Let’s take a look at three examples of the good, bad and ugly in the world of corporate blogging.

The Good

A good corporate blog finds the balance between being personable and professional. This is a juggling act, but when it’s done right, the result is a successful blog that builds a solid relationship with the public. The best example of a good corporate blog is Sun Microsystems. They’ve allowed their employees as well as management to post blogs on anything under the sun and the result has been terrific in the blogging community. Readers feel connected with the company and they can now put faces with a big corporation. This company has long been a leader in the corporate blogging world and they are a very good example to emulate.

The Bad

Walmart is a terrific example of corporate blogging gone bad. They set up a blog that was supposed to be written by a couple that was traveling the US in an RV and staying at Walmarts. The only thing that was not mentioned was that Walmart was sponsoring this as a corporate blog – not as a personal endeavor as the creators originally claimed. The blogosphere soon found out and the result was scorn. This did not do Walmart’s image any favors and they quickly retired the blog in question and have not made any new overtures.

A lot can be learned from this debacle. Never try to masquerade a corporate blog as anything but a corporate blog. It will backfire.

The Ugly

Earthlink’s blog is perhaps the most notorious. The company already has customer service issues and a lot of ill will already. When they debuted the blog, they were opening themselves up to a whole new host of problems. First, they didn’t allow comments, then they did, then they didn’t and the cycle continued. The posts ended up addressing constant controversy instead of addressing any key issues for the company. They simply could not surmount these obstacles and the blog was eventually cancelled.

For this lesson – make a decision and stick to it. Otherwise you look wishy washy. If you have trouble with customer service, a blog may not be the best idea. Don’t open your company up to problems right off the bat if you are concerned that the blog will turn into a public bashing forum for your company. This was a bad decision on the part of Earthlink and one that they undoubtedly regretted. Instead of fixing their image, they ended up reinforcing bad publicity.

The best way to ensure that your corporate blog joins the ranks of The Good in blogging is to work with a management company that can help you navigate the treacherous waters of blogging. With their help, you can avoid falling into The Bad or The Ugly categories.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-08-08 05:16:46. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• 5 Reasons to Start Corporate Blogging Now In today's fast paced world, where companies are built daily and there is a big scandal every week bringing a corporation crashing down. That is why it can be very beneficial to start a corporate blog. We will go into this and four other reasons for starting a corporate blog......
• 3 Smart Blogging Techniques for Business Owners If you are getting ready to launch a corporate blog, there are a few techniques that you can use to make sure that it is a success. By utilizing these methods you can ensure that you will quickly build up a new readership and starting increasing your customer base. Corporate......
• How to Use Blog Networks to Promote Your Corporate Blog One of the biggest problems facing corporate bloggers is finding an audience. If you’re using your blog as a way to promote your company’s products, it is vital to quickly build up a strong readership. This is not an easy task, and even though paid promotion can be helpful, there......
• How to Handle Corporate Blog Comments One of the biggest issues in the corporate blogging world is whether or not you should allow readers to comment on your blog posts. There are two main schools of thought to the issue, basically yes and no. However, we believe that it is important to allow your readers to......
• Corporate Blogs Don't Have to Fail One of the main problems facing corporate bloggers is that is all too easy to crash and burn. One controversial post is all that it takes to ruin your company’s image. There are many reasons that corporate blogs fail, but there are also solutions out there to ensure that this......

• Walmart sets the record straight on its $298 laptop I received a comment from Ryan Halford, a Senior Buyer for Walmart, and specifically for computers.  He was commenting on my $298 laptop post.  I'm including his comments and responding to them here. Mr. Halford said: I am the buyer for computers at Walmart.  Thanks for the comments and feedback.......
• Mobile Phones Battle Making Best Deals for the Consumer It seems now days cell phones are a way of life. Almost every adult and teenager has one. The issue is to know which service to choose from. Many times the decision depends on who offers the best plan and which one has the best signal in the area in......
• SIP Print Addresses Market Needs in Record Time   By: Paula Bernier Donald C. Palmer doesn’t let any grass grow under his feet. When he sees an opportunity, he jumps at the chance. When he sees a need, he runs to meet it. This unflagging energy and enthusiasm may explain why Palmer always has something new cooking at......
• Reasons to Start Blogging In the 1990's people started to set up websites know as web logs, a term which has been colloquially evolved into the term blog. A blog is a internet website where users post regular article, providing commentary, information, news, and various other forms of posts. Why do individuals start blogging?......
• Should you change your corporate status? Way back in December 1997, Inc. Magazine published an article that discussed the circumstances under which a business may want to consider switching its corporate status.  Among the conditions it discussed were the following: The company needs capital. If you're simply contemplating raising your credit line or bringing in some......

One of the main problems facing corporate bloggers is that their posts can be taken the wrong way, or controversy can get stirred up. Since one blog post has the potential to make or break your company, it is very important to make sure that you are managing your blog property. A good blog will benefit your company; a bad blog could destroy it. Let’s go over some things that you need to know before you start blogging.

1. Controversy can be good and it can be terrible –

While controversy can stir up a lot of excitement and can result in extra page views, it needs to be the right kind of controversy. Bad controversy feels like a never ending trial that brings you down and could bring down your company. Never get involved in blog or flame wars, as this will only feed controversy. Never make the mistake of engaging a reader in an inflammatory exchange – even by email. It will backfire.

2. Comments can make or break you.

If you are going to allow comments, you are treading some dangerous waters unless they are managed properly. While companies that don’t allow comments are usually accused of being too closed up, those that allow comments freely on their blogs usually end up regretting it. One answer is to allow comments on your blog but require that each one be approved before it is posted live. This is usually the best answer for most blogs. There may still be some grumbling from those that don’t get their comments approved, but it is manageable.

3. Never use your blog to air company problems.

You may be frustrated with the direction your board is taking or you may be fed up with clients. Your blog is not the place to talk about this. Likewise, if there is more than one company blog, they all need to present a united front for the company. Bloggers should never disparage the company they work for in print. Many have lost their jobs for doing just that and the harm they caused their companies is palpable.

4. Always be professional.

There is a big difference between writing fun posts that are professional and getting down and dirty in the mud. Your posts should always reflect your company and should never be overly personal or inflammatory. You want to present an image of professionalism and that is never done with posts that cause controversy or that are immature. Hold your tongue, or in this case, your keys and leave the nasty comments off the blog.

These are just a few things that you need to be aware of before you start blogging. A blog management company can help you with knowing what to say and what not to say. This is a very good service for companies that are completely new to corporate blogging and want to avoid a potential disaster or setting a bad example for their company.

Photo Credit: Kristi M Evans

Originally posted 2008-07-24 05:53:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• How to Avoid Corporate Blogging Disasters 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......
• What Makes a Corporate Blog Stand Out? Right now, thousands of companies are using corporate blogging as a means of reaching out to new customers. This means that the field is incredibly crowded and getting more so every day. How do you get your blog to stand out from the crowd? It can be complicated at times,......
• Projecting the Right Image of Your Company Through Your Corporate Blog Few people realize how powerful a blog can be when it comes to projecting an image to the public. Words have a power all their own and the wrong ones may sink your company’s reputation. Before you even start your own corporate blog it is very important to first come......
• The Danger of Fake Corporate Blogs Corporate blogging became so popular so quickly that many companies made the mistake of thinking that they could get away with thinly veiled advertorial blogs that served no real purpose for their readers. Some companies out and out lied about their blogs and the results permanently harmed their reputation. If......
• When Companies Blog - The Good, Bad and Ugly Side of Corporate Blogging Although corporate blogging can be a powerful tool, there is a time when it can get pretty dicey. Without proper management, a blog can be a disaster that can end up ruining your corporate image. Let’s take a look at three examples of the good, bad and ugly in the......

• How to Recover from an ACL Injury If you have injured your ACL ligament, but you don’t want to fall behind in your fitness goals, there are a few methods that you can use that will combine rehabilitation with your workouts. However, it should be noted that a torn or strained ACL is a serious injury. If......
• How to Repair a Ceramic Tile Roof Out of all the roofing materials you can use, ceramic tile is by far the nicest looking. Unfortunately, it's also very easily damaged and requires quite a bit of upkeep. For many homeowners however, this is a price they're willing to pay, given that the final product is so beautiful.......
• Do You Need More Blog Readers? Do you feel as if your blog could use more blog readers? You are certainly not alone, as most blog authors are constantly looking for an increase in more blog readers, though not everyone is sure quite how to attract the readership levels that they are looking for. If you......
• Contest: Win a Copy of Shattered! Thanks to Joan and Mira Publishing for sponsoring this contest! Prize: Shattered by Joan Johnston Blurb: Nine years ago Kate Grayhawk Pendleton walked into Wyatt Shaw's life - and out of it the next morning.  Now Wyatt's back and, by all accounts, is a brutal killer - and has the......
• 10 Ways to Apply Twitter to Public Relations Twitter seems to be everywhere these days. Sam Champion and Chris Cuomo (and they are obsessed) from Good Morning America are on it and so is Oprah. But what's all this tweetness about? And how can you, as a public relations professional, get "in" on all that Twitterful action?...

If you have never blogged before and are interested in starting a corporate blog, there are a few issues and concerns that you need to be aware of before you ever get started. These can be treacherous waters at times and if you are not prepared, it is all too easy to get in over your head. Blogging can be a great way to increase consumer confidence and build a strong brand, but you will need to be able to spot and avoid some common pitfalls along the wall.

First up, you need to make sure that your blog is taking advantage of all the latest technological advances. This means having a blog that has an RSS feed and utilizing buttons that will allow your readers to share the articles on social bookmarking sites. These are two very simple things but many bloggers omit them. An RSS feed is essential since most blog readers rely on their newsreader software to find out when new articles are posted. This is done with RSS feeds. If you don’t have one, your readers may never make it back to your site to see if you have new content posted.

Social bookmarking buttons are incredibly useful and can help new readers discover you. There are plugins available for most blogging applications that allow you to easily add these buttons to your site. Once they are there, visitors can simply click that button to share your blog with others. This can really increase your page views, especially when you have a popular post.

Next, you need to be aware that blogging is a very public forum and you will be opening yourself up to criticism, and some of it may be ugly. You need to go over some responses now so that you can keep a cool head when it matters. If your company has some known issues with customer support or other problems, you need to have responses all ready to go that will address this.

Comments sections can be deadly for a company that has this kind of problem. You can avoid a lot of controversy by simply not allowing any comments. However, this can backfire if readers feel that you are hiding something and do not want to allow them the freedom to discuss your posts. It’s a double edged sword and you’ll need to find the right balance for your unique needs.

Lastly, running a successful corporate blog can take a lot of time. If you are trying to do it yourself, or if you have an employee handling it for you, this will be taking you away from your other work. You may want to consider hiring a blog management service so that you can focus on your actual work and leave the blog to them. This is a great solution for first time bloggers that aren’t really sure what they need to be doing with their blog and how to handle everything that comes with it.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-07-31 05:36:21. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Getting a Better Corporate Blog Ranking pt 1 If you ask ten different bloggers about the best way to increase your search engine ranking for your corporate blog, you will certainly get at least ten different answers. There are a myriad of different ways that you can increase your blog's search engine rankings in the top search engines......
• Why Do You Need a Blog For Your Company? If you’ve been hearing a lot about the corporate blogging trend and wondering how you can make it work for your company, there are specific reasons that having a blog is very important. It really is worth the extra effort that goes into the creation and management of the blog,......
• Corporate Blogging Made Easy One of the best ways for a company to reach out to their customers and build a strong brand is corporate blogging. However, there are a lot of misconceptions out there and a lot of room for error. Let’s take a look at some techniques that you can use to......
• Facilitating Conversation for Better Corporate Blogging Content One of the biggest facets of corporate blogging is the facilitation of conversation, but facilitating communication, community and conversation is not limited to boosting traffic or boosting sales, because it can also allow you to come up with new ideas for content. If you are looking for new ways to......
• Learning to Navigate the Blogosphere Whether you are just getting started in corporate blogging, or you haven’t been paying much attention to other bloggers, the so-called “blogosphere” can be a little confusing. There are literally thousands, if not millions of blogs out there, and if you’re trying to network through them, the task can be......

• Become a responsible shopper - do your homework! Looking for a way to be more responsible about what companies you give your hard earned cash to? Look no further than Co-op America's Responsible Shopper: Global Research & Action to Stop Corporate Abuse, which examines leading companies around the world for their corporate standards about social and environmental issues.......
• Increase Traffic to Blog, pt1 This is part one in a three part series dedicated to increasing traffic to your blog in a number of different ways. Now that you have your blog set up and you are beginning to post useful information in its pages, the next step is to start attracting useful readers......
• Increase Traffic Using Blog Exchange Programs If you're one of the over 50 Million bloggers online, and getting more traffic to your blog is important, than you need to know more about blog traffic exchanges. More than likely, if you've been marketing online for awhile, you probably recall the wildly popular traffic exchange programs and banner......
• Turning Blog Visitors into Blog Readers Bringing traffic in the form of blog visitors to your website is really only the beginning when it comes to creating an effective blog. Many of these visitors may only be stopping by once, never to return again. There are a number of different little things that can be done......
• Blog Plug-Ins to Get More Readers Wordpress specifically has a number of plug-ins for blogging that will allow you to attract more readers to your blog. Some of the best blog plug-ins for increasing traffic to come in three main categories: Social networking and bookmarking Posting across many different platforms RSS feed helpers BTE Related Websites:......

One of the biggest issues in the corporate blogging world is whether or not you should allow readers to comment on your blog posts. There are two main schools of thought to the issue, basically yes and no. However, we believe that it is important to allow your readers to interact with you, and comments are one of the best ways to do this. You just need to make sure that you are handling the issue correctly for the best results.

First, you should make your decision about comments at the beginning of your blog and then stick with them. Don’t flip flop, allowing comments and then changing your mind. It will give a bad impression of your company and make it seem as though you are trying to hide something from the public. That’s not the image you want to project.

Next, you should think about allowing some not so flattering comments on your blog. No one likes controversy, but the fact of the matter remains that it can increase your page views. Don’t be afraid to allow some bad comments on your blog, just as long as you can answer the issue calmly and appropriately. Obviously, if a comment is just vitriolic and damaging, you should not approve it, but sometimes, bad comments and your response can lead to greater reader loyalty and they will want to back you up.

We’ve mentioned approving comments because we believe the best of both worlds in blogging is to allow comments, but on a moderated basis. This means that all of the comments will go into a queue where you can read and approve them. This is much safer and helps cut down on comment spam as well as people who are just looking to start trouble. It takes a little bit longer, but you will be able to have a lot more peace of mind.

Next, you’ll want to set some ground rules for your comments and make sure that you enforce them fairly. For example, you can state that no profanity or hate speech is allowed, and that some posts may not be approved based on their overall content. If people know this going in, you can cut down on the amount of people that are screaming censorship.

You’ll never be able to please all of the people all of the time, but allowing comments on your blog can be very good for your company. In fact, sometimes the blog comments can be more interesting than the blog itself in some cases. You’ll also be able to increase your page views as your readers keep coming back throughout the day to follow the comment thread.

Used wisely, comments are very powerful and can be beneficial to your business. You may want to hire a blog management company to help you with this process so that you can free up your time to actually work for your company instead of having to babysit your blog.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-06-18 05:08:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• SEO and Corporate Blogging When it comes to trying to promote your business in an organic way, corporate blogging is possibly the best tool that you can use. This is one of the easiest ways to implement SEO on your site with little effort and a blog has the added benefit of being incredibly......
• What Makes a Corporate Blog Stand Out? Right now, thousands of companies are using corporate blogging as a means of reaching out to new customers. This means that the field is incredibly crowded and getting more so every day. How do you get your blog to stand out from the crowd? It can be complicated at times,......
• 5 Tips on Corporate Blogging for Companies Right now, one of the best ways to reach out to your customer base and increase brand recognition is through the use of a corporate blog. However, many companies aren't sure where they should start and how they can take advantage of this trend. Here are some tips that make......
• The Downsides of Free Blogging Platforms for Corporate Blogging (Blogger, etc... focus on how posts may be deleted forever without warning, lack of professionalism, etc...) In a lot of different instances when it comes to blogging, making use of a free blogging platform can really come in handy. If you are writing a personal blog or a blog that......
• How to Steer Comments in the Right Direction If you have decided to allow comments on your corporate blog, it is a good idea to start mapping out how you will handle certain situations now, before they actually happen. Sooner or later, something will come up with your readers and it is very helpful to have a planned......

• Niche Marketing and Choosing a Niche Niche marketing is a type of marketing that falls out of the normal realm of mainstream business, or that involves focusing on one specific product or one specific type of need that allows niche marketing businesses to boom. Niche marketing is capable of meaning different things to different people because......
• Jobless rate falls to 9.7 percent in January [/caption] The unemployment rate in the U.S. unexpectedly dropped to 9.7 percent in January, indicating the labor market may be poised to climb out of its deepest slump since World War II. More than half a million Americans found work, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington, helping push......
• Open Source Vehicle Project to help the environment I found this site this morning called the Open Source Green Vehicle (OSGV)project which is exactly that; an open source vehicle project that "is initiated to create a public-domain vehicle platform that puts consumers’ rights, environmental responsibilities and the fate of our planet back in the hands of the citizens......
• Vital Ladder For Site Encouragement SEO Services Delhi company e-fuzion basically focuses on the different contents which help your site by clarifying its quality ant quantity. This organization just exposes your sites development. Also SEO Services Delhi company e-fuzion provides a basic feature, which can scan your links and check different we sites which are......
• Top 5 Reasons PR Matters in a Recession ....One of the first couple of departments to get the axe in the corporate world seems to be communications: advertising, marketing and public relations. Not a secret, we know that the world economy is sloping downward into what we hope isn't oblivion. n...

If you are not familiar with the site called StumbleUpon, it is a service that allows users to discover new sites. With the use of a toolbar (spyware free), users of StumbleUpon can find new sites that are related to their interests, or they can choose a random option. Millions of people are using StumbleUpon and it has caught the eye of many corporate bloggers as being a great new way to pick up readers.

This is a veritable minefield however in the blogging community. Many people swear by the service, others can’t stand it. While there are some flaw that are inherent with StumbleUpon, there are a few cases where it can actually be useful for your corporate blog. Let’s take a hard look at the pros and cons of StumbleUpon and whether or not it can help you.

First off, although advertising on StumbleUpon is incredibly cheap, and very targeted, few have found it to be effective. Basically, when you purchase a StumbleUpon ad, your blog will be automatically loaded for viewers that are interested in your niche. It sounds ideal, but this rarely works. In our testing we found that we did get the number of visitors promised, but none stayed for more than a few seconds.

Paying for targeted visitors that barely see your site is just not a good investment. There is a lot of controversy over StumbleUpon’s ads, and although they are economical, we have not found that they are effective for the majority of corporate blogs. If you are running a very special contest or offer you may have better results, but you really cannot rely on these ads to help build up a solid readership.

So, what about their organic services? These are the visitors that just happen upon your site and you don’t have to pay for them. This is a little hit or miss and again, it is really only effective for contests, special deals and controversial content that grabs a visitor immediately. While it is still important to get listed as a StumbleUpon site, you should not expect hordes of people to descend on your site as a result.

Overall, StumbleUpon is a great premise that should work, but it just doesn’t seem to for most corporate blogs. The review feature is also worrisome for many corporate blog owners. Get a bad review and that will stay up, in connection with your site, for any StumbleUpon user that happens to visit your site. If the reviews are good, this is great. If they are not, it is a whole other story.

While using StumbleUpon has some benefits, it is certainly not the most reliable means of attracting new readers to your corporate blog. With the right niche and targeting this can change, but for the average corporate blog owner, it is just not worth the trouble. This may change as StumbleUpon grows and evolves, but for now, your efforts are probably best spent elsewhere.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-10-02 05:50:15. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Is a Niche Blog Right For You? If you’ve been considering starting a corporate blog, but you’re not quite sure that your company is ready yet, there is still a way that you can get your feet wet and start taking advantage of what a blog can do for promotion. Instead of closely defining a corporate blog......
• Corporate Blogging Examined Currently, one of the best ways to reach out to your customer base is through the use of a corporate blog. When it comes to getting that personal touch just right and humanizing your company, there is no better tool than a blog done well. Let's take a look at......
• Positive Qualities for a Corporate Blog Do you know what qualities your corporate blog should incorporate in order to get the most out of it? Do you know what people are looking at when they determine whether or not they want to keep reading a specific business blog? The following is a look at some of......
• 5 Tips on Corporate Blogging for Companies Right now, one of the best ways to reach out to your customer base and increase brand recognition is through the use of a corporate blog. However, many companies aren't sure where they should start and how they can take advantage of this trend. Here are some tips that make......
• Ten Tips for Better Corporate Blog Traffic pt 3 It is basically what allows your blog to notify other blogs that they have been mentioned elsewhere on the internet. Track backs most commonly appear as blog comments, creating another link back to your blog in other blogs on the internet. Not only will this create new links to your......

• PPC Web Spy Review We were one of the lucky few invited to download, test and then write a PPC Web Spy Review for Brad Callen's new software, and we have to admit that we are impressed. PPC Web Spy is a Mozilla Firefox add-on that allows you to ethically spy on and......
• Tips for Improving Number of Blog Visitors All bloggers are looking for ways that they can improve the popularity of their blog, in order to increase the number of blog visitors. They work hard to make their blogs popular, and spend most of their spend time doing this. The longer that you blog, the more little tips......
• Draw in Targeted Traffic to Your Site at No Cost Draw in Targeted Traffic to Your Site at No Cost By Menno Spijkstra To bring people to your web site is one of the highest priorities of online marketers. A web site is futile if only a few blokes know about it. There are various techniques that these marketers do......
• How to Get Blog Readers Many people start blogging and just assume their blog will have readers. They don't promote much, just with a few social networking and bookmarking sites, and maybe with a few comments in forums. They just assume that if their content is interesting, people will come to their blog. Those blogs......
• Web 2.0 Success Using Blogs The rise and rise of blogging as part of the web 2.0 phenomenon has taken the Internet by storm. Savvy web marketers are now using blogs as an additional weapon to generate leads, add credibility and improve their search engine rankings. Here are six reasons why you should consider......

Why do some blog instantly become hits, while others languish without a reader to be found? Although the subject matter can play a big role in popularity, a lack of readership can be attributed to a lack of style in the blog. Since there is so much competition out there, you’ve got to work on creating a special hook that will keep your reader’s interested. This is the key to developing a corporate blog that will get noticed. Here are some tips on how to pick the right style hook for your blog.

1. The Funny Hook –

If you are a naturally humorous person, don’t be afraid to let your sense of humor shine through your posts. Granted, this is not the place to share off color jokes, but if you have a talent for wry, dry or witty writing, your blog can be a great outlet. If you can make people laugh while they are reading a corporate blog, that is a big accomplishment. Readers remember funny blogs right off the bat and they’ll want to return often to make sure they get their daily dose of funny. However, if you do not have a flare for comedy, this is not the best hook to use. The key is knowing whether or not you have the talent for being truly humorous. If not, there are plenty of other hooks that you can use.

2. The Newsy Hook –

This is the perfect hook for those that may have a drier writing style or for those that don’t feel comfortable cracking jokes all the time. If you have the time to spend monitoring news and breaking it on your corporate blog, you can develop a very devoted readership. It’s best to stick with news that is related to your corporate sector, but there may be times when you can push the envelope a little bit. Many blogs have taken off after they covered one item that was very popular. The readers will stick around if they like your style and the information you cover.

3. The Controversial Hook –

This hook should be used with care and only by those that are masters of PR and capable of handling controversy. The blogs that use this hook are probably the most popular, but there is a fine line to walk here. If you are worried about your company getting dragged through the mud, or if you have a board that you have to please, it’s best not to use this hook.

These are just a few examples of hooks that you can use to start creating that relationship with your readers. If none of them fit, then just let your personality shine through your posts. Being friendly and open can be a hook on its own and may actually create better results than all three of the above hooks combined. The secret is finding what works for you and your readers. Once you’ve got that down, the sky is the limit.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-09-03 05:20:38. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• How to Target Your Corporate Blog Audience Once you’re ready to set up your own corporate blog, you’ll need to figure out what your audience is since this will determine how you write your blog. If you already have a set group of customers that you feel will be reading your blog, you’re already pretty much set.......
• 9 Great Tools to Make Corporate Blogging Easier Here are nine ways to make corporate blogging even easier for you. Writing your blog should be enjoyable and fun, rather than just a task you have no interest in doing. These some really great tools should help make blogging more fun and enjoyable for you rather than a chore......
• 8 Key Ways to Advance your Corporate Blogging Effort Blogs are mushrooming at the speed of light in this day and age. For this reason, creating a blogging effort for your company can be extremely profitable and rewarding for your company. There is no real start up fees or set up fees that are needed, and starting a blog......
• 3 Smart Blogging Techniques for Business Owners If you are getting ready to launch a corporate blog, there are a few techniques that you can use to make sure that it is a success. By utilizing these methods you can ensure that you will quickly build up a new readership and starting increasing your customer base. Corporate......
• Absolutely Everything Corporate Blogging By Debbie Weil This book claims to be the definitive guide to corporate blogging, so we were pretty interested to see what it had to offer. Right off the bat, the forward, which was written by Bob Lutz of GM (a corporate blogger) got our attention. It’s always nice to see books written......

• 6 More Steps for How to Get Blog Traffic If you are trying to learn how to get blog traffic, the following tips will definitely come in handy for you. Access to the right tips and tools will help you build up your blog traffic earning arsenal. There are twenty tips in all that you need to keep in......
• Top 10 Tips for Writing a Blog Most of the rules and tips that are associated with writing for eZines and newsletters also apply to writing blog entries, though there are some truly important differences as well. If you keep these top ten tips for writing a blog entry in mind, you will be creating excellent blog......
• Blog Awards! As I have shared in the past I love blogging. I love getting my thoughts out there, and I love when I hear that someone enjoys reading my blog. It just makes me smile. So imagine the big smile on my face when I got a comment that someone in......
• Weight Loss Blog Surfing I spend many hours reading books offline and articles online. I read so much because I really don't enjoy writing. Actually, I just don't enjoy typing. I'm a one finger bandit. I have the Dragon Naturally Speaking Software, but I have not mastered it yet, or even tried to. As......
• Tips for Blog Visitor Retention Today, having a blog on the internet is just about as common as having an e-mail address. E-mailing and blogging actually share a number of the same purposes, such as that they are allowed to spread ideas, provide people with information and to promote online businesses. Blogs originally served, however,......

When corporate blog owners first get started, there is a lot of pressure to focus on promoting the whole blog. While this does work, there is an easier way to get attention and increase your chances of success. By breaking down your blog promotion into actual posts, you can see better results in most cases. Let’s take a look at how this works.

First, you’ll need to find or write a post that you are really proud of. This should be a post that is absolutely stellar, makes a point or even one that could cause a little controversy. Read through all of your posts until you find that perfect one. Don’t worry if it is a little old, that doesn’t matter. If it is literally ancient, write a new post referencing it and work that old post into a new one.

Ok, so once you have found the perfect post, the chosen one, it is time to start promoting the heck out of it. You won’t be focusing on your entire corporate blog here, just that one post. Start submitting it to social bookmarking sites. Write a press release that references the post and put it on free PR sites. Find ways to make that little post stand out and get noticed.

The immediate benefit, especially if the content is evergreen, currently a hot topic, or controversial is that you’re going to see a lot of traffic to that one post. You should be linking to that actual post and not your main blog page if you want this to work. So, you’ve got people coming in to see that post, how to do you take advantage of this situation.

Before you even start, you will need to add links in that perfect post that reference other posts on your corporate blog that are somehow related. You should also be using a plugin that will display related posts at the bottom of the one that you are promoting. This will encourage readers to explore your site further.

Let’s take a look at a step by step process:

1. Find the post you want to promote
2. Make sure that you add links to your other content inside this post
3. Make sure that you have a related posts link at the bottom of the post
4. Submit the actual post page to social bookmarking sites

By following these steps, you will be able to successfully promote that solitary post and have it work for you. This is ideal for corporate blogs that may be a little on the staid or boring side. If you are focusing on serious industry news, you may not have the opportunity to write a lot of posts that will get a reader’s attention. Instead of trying to create every post that way, work on just doing one really great post and use this as leverage to attract new readers.

Once you have this technique down, you’ll be able to find other posts to promote to get the same benefits.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-09-30 05:43:03. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Is it a Sales Letter or a Corporate Blog Post? One of the most common mistakes that corporate blog owners make is turning their blog into a glorified sales letter. While there is a place for sales copy on a blog, it should only be used when absolutely necessary, and never as the main form of communication. No one really......
• Frequently Asked Questions about Corporate Blogging If you are completely new to blogging, you may find that you have a lot of questions and at times, it can be hard to find the answers. We’ve compiled the most common issues facing new corporate bloggers and supplied the answers to these problems below. 1. Is this going......
• 5 Musts You Should Be Doing When You're Not Blogging Unless you are writing hundreds of posts a day, the amount of time you spend posting on your corporate blog should be minimal. In fact, that is why so many decide to start their own blogs, since everything can be automated and you can sit back and relax. However, there......
• How to Use Blog Networks to Promote Your Corporate Blog One of the biggest problems facing corporate bloggers is finding an audience. If you’re using your blog as a way to promote your company’s products, it is vital to quickly build up a strong readership. This is not an easy task, and even though paid promotion can be helpful, there......
• Corporate Blogging Made Easy One of the best ways for a company to reach out to their customers and build a strong brand is corporate blogging. However, there are a lot of misconceptions out there and a lot of room for error. Let’s take a look at some techniques that you can use to......

• April Fool's Day Group Blogging Experiment Here's the plan. On the homepage there are a number of April Fool's Day Joke Posts. I hope you can figure out which ones are jokes, lol. Here's the plan: Let's make the internet community BELIEVE it's REAL! It's one thing for one person to say something - but it's......
• Successfully Using Blog Entry Titles There are a number of different solutions that can be used by successful bloggers in order to bring attention to their posts, simply by using titles effectively. There is no real right or wrong answer when it comes to writing out a good title for your blog, and choosing a......
• Blogging and Article Marketing A web log is a collection of journal posts that follow a particular theme. These blogs are easily maintained, updated frequently, and do not require any real technical knowledge to run and maintain. A lot of blog owners work to distribute information on their favorite subject. However, many blogs are......
• How to Get Blog Traffic in Five Steps Every blogger is looking to achieve the exact same thing: They are hoping to be read. There are millions of bloggers that give the idea a shot but then eventually give up because they feel like nobody is reading them. They feel like if they are unable to get blog......
• Meet The M-Network Friends: An Interview With Ryan From Millionaire Money Habits. Now that I have wrapped up all the interviews with all the M-Network members other than myself, I decided to expand the series a little and include all the friends of the M-Network who participate in our group projects and forums. Up this week is Ryan from Millionaire Money......

If you are looking to build up your company’s brand, one of the easiest ways to achieve this is through corporate blogging. There are numerous success stories out there about how a blog helped create a huge fan base for a company and helped them increase their sales and brand recognition. Let’s take apart these success stories to see how this technique can be used to help you build a strong brand that will be noticed and remembered.

1. The human approach.

Consumers have stronger reactions to brands when they feel an emotional attachment. For example, how many consumers automatically see the Hallmark logo and get sentimental. In addition, they also think of quality, since this is Hallmark’s signature. If you want to get the same results, adding that human touch will help build up an emotional attachment with your readers. By doing this, you’ll be creating a memorable brand with a human face and heart behind it. This is the key to building a strong brand.

2. More discoverability.

You can have the strongest branding concepts in the world, but if you’re not getting new visitors to your site, chances are you are shouting into the wind. If you want to stand out and get noticed, adding a corporate blog to your site increases your overall discoverability. The more posts you make, the better your chances are of getting noticed by search engines and as a result, getting noticed by the public.

3. Good controversy.

Not all controversy is bad, especially when you are standing up for a cause that the public can get behind. You can use your blog as a platform for creating good controversy and getting noticed. Your readers will be able to get behind your cause and you’ll notice that they will begin pulling for you. Your name will be associated with the “good fight” and your brand will become much stronger.

As a caveat, corporate blogs should always avoid bad controversy. This is the type of issue that can quickly spiral out of control online. The online community is tight knit and word travels quickly. Improper management of a blog can lead to bad controversy, especially if the poster is not experienced in handling hot button issues or steering comments into the right direction.

4. More visitors equals more chances to make your mark.

The main goal of building up a brand is to increase the amount of new customers and help them remember you. By having a blog that is published on a regular basis, you’re getting thousands of chances every day for building your brand and making a statement.

One of the best ways to ensure that you will get your branding goals accomplished is to hire a professional blog management company. They will be able to assist you in avoiding common pitfalls and using the blog to your company’s best advantage. These services are incredibly valuable, especially if you are not well versed in blogging.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-07-25 05:02:27. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Why Do You Need a Blog For Your Company? If you’ve been hearing a lot about the corporate blogging trend and wondering how you can make it work for your company, there are specific reasons that having a blog is very important. It really is worth the extra effort that goes into the creation and management of the blog,......
• How to Start Promoting Your Blog If you are completely new to corporate blogging, it can be pretty confusing to get started with everything. Once you’ve got your blog set up and you’re posting regularly, it’s time to really start promoting it. Here are some easy ways that you can promote your blog and get great......
• How do Backlinks Help Your Corporate Blog? Most people understand the basics when it comes to blogging or corporate blogging, but unless you have been trained in SEO, you probably do not understand what goes on behind the scenes. For example, are you aware of how backlinks are vital to the success of your corporate blog? If......
• Quick and Dirty Tips for Effective Corporate Blogging, pt 5 The last four blog entries (1, 2, 3, 4) have touched on eleven vital tips for crafting good blog entries and keeping your corporate blog going. In the last tip in the previous blog post, we talked about putting together a checklist to make sure that all of the most......
• 5 More Tips for Corporate Blogging A lot of the most common tips for corporate blogging are obvious now, and are becoming stale for that reason. But does that mean that we know everything that we need to know about getting a good corporate blog started? Here are five new tips for corporate blogging that have......

• Web Design and Blogs: How Important Is a Fresh Look? One of the biggest challenges facing blog owners is keeping their site looking fresh without losing their appeal. Currently, there are thousands of free themes out there that can be used by anyone, but there are few designs that are not already in use. For blog owners that want to......
• Another 7 Steps for How to Get Traffic to Your Blog If you are trying to learn how to get traffic to your blog, then you will benefit from the tips in this series, which are designed to show you the necessary steps for how to get traffic to your blog. When you have the right tips, tricks and resources in......
• Apple And Android Now Make Up 75 Percent Of U.S. Smartphone Web Traffic Apple And Android Now Make Up 75 Percent Of U.S. Smartphone Web Traffic Not really surprising considering web browsing on other phones sucks! When it comes to the mobile Web, increasingly there are only two mobile platforms which matter: Apple and Android. According to AdMob’s October, 2009 mobile metrics report,......
• Increase Traffic to Blog, pt1 This is part one in a three part series dedicated to increasing traffic to your blog in a number of different ways. Now that you have your blog set up and you are beginning to post useful information in its pages, the next step is to start attracting useful readers......
• The Jury Is Out On Keyword Discovery A great new software, maybe....... but is the price worth it? The major problem I have with the software is that it only gives a full 12 months demand/competition figures unless you upgrade to the "Paid API" version which will cost you $400 per month or $3000 a year. The......

If you’ve decided that you are going to allow readers to comment on your blog, there are a lot of benefits that you can reap. In addition to increased page views, comments allow you to build up a strong relationship with your readers. They can be very beneficial, but it may take a little while before you start seeing comments. Although writing engaging material is the best way to encourage reader participation, there are a few other tips that can be very useful.

1. Ask your readers a question.

This is one of the easiest ways to encourage more comments on your blog. Ask your readers a question that is pertinent to your post and ask them to leave their responses in the comment section. This can be a double edged sword, but when properly managed, you can do quite well. Just remember, if you don’t want to hear the answers, don’t ask the question. Go for questions that are not vitriolic to avoid excess controversy that could harm your company.

2. Run a contest.

This is probably the most blatant method, but it does work. Try running a contest for something that you sell, or a really great gift that will get a lot of attention. You’ll want to extend the contest for at least a week for the best results. Let your readers know that you’ll be picking a winner from among those that leave comments on your blog. The key is finding a gift that people will really want, since that will increase the likelihood of getting better comments and more participation.

3. Leave your own comments.

If you get a comment on your blog, it’s very important to respond to that person in the comments section. You can start a whole dialogue there and your visitors will go away with a brand new impression of you. By taking the time to answer a question or thank someone for their opinion, you are letting them know that you care about your readers. This helps them develop a stronger relationship with you and it will benefit your business in many different ways. Take the time to get personal and you’ll definitely see an increase in readership.

4. Make commenting easy for your readers.

Most of today’s blogging platforms have made it relatively easy for people to leave comments, but there are still some issues that may keep your readers from using the system. You need to make sure that it is incredibly easy to leave a comment. While asking users to register before they are allowed to leave comments can be helpful, it generally makes it more difficult and time consuming. It’s best to do away with this step. Your readers will be more likely to leave comments since they won’t feel as though they are giving you too much personal information. Today’s internet users are savvy and they care about the information they share, and if you don’t require this step, they will feel much more comfortable leaving a comment.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-09-10 05:22:03. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

• Sunday Roundup: Corporate Blogging, Web Traffic and SEO Tips Welcome to another edition of Buildify's roundup. We have more for you on best blogging practices, blogging tips, corporate blogging, gaining reader traffic and more. We hope you enjoy this little guide into a corner of the blogosphere. Tell us what you think or would like to see by leaving......
• Getting Smart About Corporate Blogging - Part Two In part one of this series we discussed a post made by Matt Cutts on corporate blogging. We went over the first point he made in his post, regarding leaving yourself wiggle room on deadlines. Now, let's go over the second point, about how to handle yourself when dealing with......
• Professional Blogging Roundup: All Saints Day Edition Happy All Saints Day, one day late, from Buildify. We hope your weekend has been productive and if it hasn't been yet, well we have another list of links for you to read through for some blogging ideas to help you get started. Corporate Blog Medium Shifting in Large Way......
• Do Your Posts Provoke an Emotional Response In Your Readers? Although writing for a blog is a bit limited in many cases, that does not mean that your posts shouldn’t invoke some sort of emotional response from your reader. This is the true key towards developing a devoted readership and sadly, many blogs fail to pass this test. While it......
• Quick and Dirty Tips for Effective Corporate Blogging, pt 5 The last four blog entries (1, 2, 3, 4) have touched on eleven vital tips for crafting good blog entries and keeping your corporate blog going. In the last tip in the previous blog post, we talked about putting together a checklist to make sure that all of the most......

• 5 Elements for Successfully Writing a Blog When you finally make the decision to begin writing a blog, it is likely that you are going to want people to actually come and visit. If you want to begin writing a blog that is actually going to have a solid chance of being successful, then the following five......
• Perfect Approaches To Grow Your Blog Popularity Through Content If you are a blogger, you will certainly want to raise traffic in your blog. One way of doing this is to optimize it to raise its visibility in search engines. Another way of doing so is making use of the social mediums. While these are perfect approaches, you will......
• contest! I made reference a few days ago to an upcoming giveaway. I think this contest will be good for three types of readers: 1. If you have a small or new blog, these giveaways will expose you to Brip Blap's readership, which (depending on the day) averages 700 visitors......
• Copywriting Tips For Bloggers Who Hate Writing Online copywriting, contrary to what some may say, is not some mysterious ancient code you must decipher before you get good at it.  Quite frankly, I don't see what all the hoopla and fuss is about writing copy online. Although online copywriting is different in many ways then print media,......
• Keeping It Fresh If you want to keep readers coming back to your website, you should produce fresh blog posts to keep their interest. Look to the biggest sites, what they all have in common is that they constantly produce content that is new and fresh. This is also what the webmasters of......