As readers become more involved with the blogs they frequent, a new form of communication is becoming prevalent – interactive blogging. There are a few ways to look at this and determine whether or not this form of interaction is right for your corporate blog and your readers. When used properly, interactive blogging can be a huge weapon in your arsenal towards building better relationships with your customers, but it can be a double edged sword.

First, let’s look at the most common form of interactive blogging, using your posts to answer reader questions. This commonly occurs when you have someone leave you a question in the comments section of your blog, frequently asking for more information on a certain topic. Now, if one person asks this question there is always a chance that there are more people that want to know the same thing.

You can use these comments to determine what your readers really want to know. If it’s a good question, consider writing a blog post that will answer it. If not, you can keep focusing your energies on your regular posts. However, it is a good idea to let your reader’s dictate what you will be writing about – at least to some extent – since this can help you develop a stronger reader following.

The second form of interactive blogging takes your comments section to a whole new level. This is where you encourage your readers to contribute on a regular basis and the comments section may even start to look a bit like a message board. This is another powerful tool that can benefit corporate blog owners.

First, you’ll be getting the benefit of having your readers return throughout the day to keep tabs on the ongoing conversation. You can also set up an RSS feed for your comments to make this easier. Second, you’ll be increasing the amount of page views you have as well as the opportunity to attract new readers through word of mouth advertising, and through search engine indexing.

Interactive blogging does have a catch though, as we mentioned above. If you can keep tabs on your readers and avoid having flame wars, or nasty comments, it can work quite well. However, if you let it get out of hand, you’re only asking for trouble. On one side, you’ll have readers that will wonder where you stand on the issue if you don’t take care of a problem, and on the other hand, if you take quick action and delete problem comments, you may be cast as against freedom of speech.

The easiest way to take advantage of interactive blogging is simply to set some ground rules, make them clear, and then stick to them. If your readers know right off the bat what they can and cannot do with your interactive blogging elements, there will be a lot less confusion and a lot more interacting going on. Try it for a week and see how your corporate blog changes.

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Originally posted 2008-11-07 05:35:27. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Although video content is lauded and championed as the future of the internet, there is still a lot of dissension over whether it has a place in corporate blogging. While there is no one clear answer to this, there are a few benefits that videos can bring, as well as a few downsides. Let’s look at each of these to help you determine whether or not your corporate blog can benefit from the addition of video.

Benefits

1. Increased interest.

If you have quality video content, this can only interest your readers and encourage them to keep coming back. Video content sometimes does a better job of getting your message across, and if you are producing your own videos, you’ll be getting the benefit of extra face time.

2. Increased consumer trust.

This really only applies if you are starring in your own videos. By putting a face with the posts, your audience will start to feel more connected with you. This is a double-edged sword however. If you are stiff in front of the camera, it won’t work well. If you’re a naturally engaging personality however, there are a lot of benefits to posting videos.

3. Taking advantage of viewer comprehension.

Text based comprehension is historically pretty low. That’s why advertisers usually rely on television or radio, since it takes advantage of visual and auditory senses. By providing your blog visitors with video postings, you will be able to take advantage of all three mediums, audio, visual and text based learning.

Downsides

1. Poor quality.

You should only post videos if they are high quality and enjoyable. If your videos have poor sound or the picture is distorted, it gives the impression that you are too cheap to get a good camera and sound system. This is not an impression that any company wants to give the public. If you’re going to do it – do it right.

2. User generated content.

If you are considered putting up user generated content, such as YouTube videos, you run a lot of risks. They may not be professional and they may provide yet again, the wrong impression of your company. Even if a video is the most viral creation ever made, that doesn’t mean it belongs on your site.

3. Not as discoverable.

Video posts will not be indexed by search engines the same way as text posts, so you are losing out on the opportunity to take advantage of more keywords. The key to beating this is to have more than just a video in your post. Write an introduction with keywords and commentate on the video. If necessary, provide a transcript to get more keywords into the post.

With the right approach, video is a great thing for a corporate blog. You just need to take the time and money to produce high quality videos and utilize the right posting structure to make sure that they get indexed. If you’re not ready to do this, it is best to wait and make the most of your blog the way it is.

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Originally posted 2008-09-18 05:53:40. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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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.

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

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