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 important details are touched on in the blog entries that you write. Rather than leaving you to craft your own checklist for this purpose, we have created a fairly basic one that you can use for your own purposes.

- Headline -

- Is the topic of your blog entry clear to someone who begins by only reading the headline of the post?

- Have you used a keyword in your blog post title, or have you used one of the catchy title examples mentioned in the previous article?

- First Paragraph -

- Does the lead paragraph in your blog post tell your reader who the story is about and what the story is about? Does it indicate to the reader why he or she should care about the blog post?

- Did you touch on the 5 W’s, Who, What, Where, When and Why in the first paragraph of your blog post? Is your blog post written in a journalistic style, and even more importantly, does it make an honest effort to be objective how you have written it?

- Post Clarity -

- Is the angle that you have used in your blog post one that is likely to appear newsworthy to your readers?

- If someone who knows absolutely nothing about your topic reads your blog post, will they understand what you are talking about?

- Is your blog post completely free of technical jargon and other confusing or unclear terms? If so, remove them now.

- Ending your Blog -

- Did you remember to ask the readers of your blog a question at the end? You need to make sure that you are stimulating your readers to write comments and offer up feedback. Ask them a question, ask directly for feedback or find some other way to essentially say “Hey, talk to me!” because blogs are excellent for the purpose of facilitating communication and correspondence.

- Did you remember to write the entire blog post while keeping your reader in mind? Do you remember WIIFT? Make sure that your readers are getting something out of your blog. If there’s nothing in it for them, why should they stick around and read?

- Finally, run through your blog: Is it free of errors? Run a spelling and grammar check and make sure that there are no glaring errors, because your readers can and will notice them!

Run through this checklist every time you write a blog, and if everything is satisfactory, click on “Publish” and sit back knowing that you put out a good piece of content that your readers will appreciate.

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Originally posted 2009-03-04 05:48:36. 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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