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, but there are several techniques that you can use to make sure that your blog gets noticed and that you beat your competitors.

1. Put a name and a face on your blog.

Don’t make the mistake of anonymous blogging. Many businesses owners make this mistake because they are not willing to put their employees or themselves out in the public eye. The result is a static blog that is boring and unpersonable. You will need to give a name, even if it is just your first name if you want your blog to be successful. A picture is also useful, but if you don’t feel comfortable with that, you’re going to have to use your personality to create that picture in the minds of your readers.

2. Blog about the right topics.

The blogs that get read find a way to mix current events in with their regular company news. The more topics you cover, the better your chances are of being discovered. Read through your competitor’s blogs and see what they are doing. Find out how you can do it better. It’s ok to have a few posts on your blog that may not be directly related to what you do. This helps build up your readership. However, it is important to find some way to relate every post you make to your company or your industry. Otherwise, your readers could get confused.

3. Allow your readers to comment.

It can be pretty scary to open up your blog to comments from your readers. However, this is a risk that pays off by allowing your readers to feel as though they are a part of what you are doing. If you do allow comments, it is alright to moderate them to avoid having a disaster occur, but you should allow some freedom of discussion. Many businesses make the mistake of talking at their readers instead of talking to them. By using comments, you can avoid this common mistake and ensure that your readers will feel that they matter to you.

4. Have fun.

The most common problem that all corporate bloggers face is that their industry may be a bit boring. There is a way to have fun with your posts, stay relevant to your topic and stay professional. If your blog makes you snore, what is it doing to your readers. Change it up every now and again and keep it lighthearted.

In order to avoid many of these pitfalls, it is a good idea to work with someone that is familiar with blog management. You’ll be able to get the benefit of their expertise and they can help you leverage your blog for success.

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Originally posted 2008-07-16 05:05:37. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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One of the biggest problems of any company is managing relationships with its customers. It may sound cliché, but it’s true that customers are the “life blood” of any company. You want to keep your customers happy, but you also want them to be thinking about you.

Excite your customer

Most corporate websites are about as interesting as watching grass grow. Would you come back day after day to a site that only has product listings and some basic information about the company’s location and founder? Of course you wouldn’t.

Your corporate blog should be your voice

People expect to see a little individuality on a blog. I want to do business with someone that has a personality – someone with a pulse. A corporate blog gives them that. It gives the ability to see that you are making advancements products. The words you use show customers that you are knowledgeable about your product and that you are a leader in the field

A corporate blog can solicit feedback

Many companies pay to run focus groups. Certainly focus groups have their place, but why not augment your information gathering by asking readers of your company blog? It’s free – it’s easy – and it’s so much better than those e-mail surveys that everyone deletes.

A corporate blog can build product awareness

Marketing a new product is always difficult. With so many companies releasing products every day, your product might get lost in the fold. Your customers only have so much attention, you need to do everything you to grab and hold on to that. Since corporate blogs are faithfully read on a regular basis, they are a very cost effective way to keep customers aware of your product.

In today’s world, your customer is asking for these things from the companies she does business with. If you are able to provide them for her, she’ll keep coming back.

Originally posted 2008-06-30 14:55:10. 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 are looking for a way to grow your business but you don’t have a lot of available resources at your disposal, a corporate blog is one of the easiest means of accomplishing this goal. The set up costs are minimal and with the right management, you can easily achieve the same results with a blog that you would with an expensive ad campaign. The key is patience when it comes to corporate blogging. You won’t achieve instant readership but over time, you’ll be laying that foundation that will help your business grow exponentially.

One of the best reasons to start a blog is that it provides your company with a face that the public can see. Usually, companies are perceived as not caring about the little guy and generally being faceless. When you have a blog, you are breaking through that stereotype and allowing your customers a chance to see the real people behind the company. This alone is worth the effort of setting up a corporate blog. By becoming a personality, you will be creating brand loyalty without even trying.

Next, corporate blogging is one of the easiest ways to increase your search engine rankings and as such your discoverability. You need to make it easy for new customers to find you, and while your static site may accomplish this to some degree, you will be limited if you don’t add new content on a regular basis. Many companies just don’t have a need to keep adding content, but a blog can provide a means of accomplishing this without taking away from your overall site plan.

As an example, let’s say that we have a company that sells sports equipment. They’ve made their site and they’ve added their shopping cart and now there is nothing left to do. If they don’t have a lot of new products, their cart isn’t going to change and customers will have nothing new to see and little reason to keep coming back.

If this same company adds a blog to their site, they are providing their customers with a reason to visit the site every single day. This blog could be used in this example to discuss sporting events, the latest news as well as company updates. By integrating this into the products that the company sells, they can reach yet another goal. For example, let’s say that the company blogs about the Super Bowl. They can mention items from their football line in the post to give readers a chance to purchase related merchandise.

This is perhaps the best example of how easy it can be to grow your business with a corporate blog. It has all of the items necessary for success – Frequent content, related merchandise and a personable approach.

To make sure that your blog succeeds and contains all of these elements, it is a good idea to work with a blog management company that specializes in guiding companies towards having the perfect corporate blog.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-08-01 05:40:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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