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 corporate blogging easy for any size company.

1. Plan your blog’s path out in advance.

It’s not enough just to create a blog, throw up a few posts and hope it will work. You will need to come up with a clear plan on what you plan to talk about with your blog, how often you will post and a general list of topics that you want to cover. By taking care of this in advance, you’ll be able to avoid a lot of the common pitfalls that make corporate blogs fail.

2. Design your blog to match your corporate site.

This sounds like a given, but it is actually a very common error. If you’re working on branding, you need to create that factor of instant recognition. By integrating your blog’s design into your site design you will be able to easily create that recognition. Many companies try to get crazy with wild themes or simply fail to have any sort of visual link between their blogs and their sites. This is a mistake that can be easily avoided.

3. Use an RSS management system.

Most blogs will have an RSS feed that will allow readers to receive instant updates whenever you publish new content. There are numerous services out there, such as Feedburner, that take this to a whole new level, providing you with tracking, format management and many other features. You can use these statistics to help shape your blog by finding out which posts are the most popular, which ones don’t receive much traffic as well as your overall readership. Pageviews aren’t enough when you’re trying to see if your blog is successful. You need to have that extra information at your fingertips.

4. Use a platform that is conducive to easy and frequent blogging.

If you are using blogging software that is complicated chances are you won’t want to post on a frequent basis. Likewise, you don’t want to have to spend a lot of time training your blogger to use the system. Go with an application that allows a simple type and post action to make it easier.

5. You’ve got to promote your blog.

If you don’t spend the time promoting your new blog, you may as well not have one. Take the time to use social networking sites and other avenues to build your blog readership.

A blog management company can help you accomplish all of these tasks and many more. Busy company owners find that having this kind of help makes corporate blogging incredibly easy and more successful. You will be able to leverage their experience and expertise to create a stellar blog that gets read.

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Originally posted 2008-06-25 05:36:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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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.

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

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One of the main problems facing corporate blogs is that they have a high rate of failure. This can be due to many factors, but it doesn’t mean that your blog is doomed to fail. With the right techniques and management, your blog can be incredibly successful and can serve as a powerful tool to brand your image and increase your customer base. Let’s take a look at why blogs fail and how to avoid these pitfalls.

1. Infrequent content.

When you get ready to start your corporate blog you need to make sure that you are going to have the time and resources to keep it updated on a frequent basis. Make a schedule of when you’re going to publish new content and stick to it. Many companies start out with the best intentions but they cannot keep up with the schedule they created. This leads to missed posts, and over time, their readers will simply give up. There is so much competition in the blogging world and so many different choices, that if you are not providing new content on a regular basis, your readers will have no reason to keep coming back to you.

2. Failure to use RSS feeds.

One of the best ways to let your readers know that you have new content is by utilizing RSS or Really Simply Syndication. Your blog should have an RSS feed that your readers can grab and put into their news reader. This will automatically update any time you publish new content. If you are not using an RSS feed, this means that your readers will have to take that additional step to visit your site to see if anything is new. While some users still prefer to do this, the majority of today’s blog readers rely on RSS feeds to let them know when new content is posted. By failing to use this technology, you are making it difficult for your reader’s to keep up with your blog.

3. Failure to present a personable but professional image.

Blogging is a difficult concept for many. It requires a special touch that uses enough of a personable approach to allow readers to feel a connection, but not going overboard with too much information or a bad attitude. Many blogs fail because they are too stiff, and others implode due to unprofessional posts. It is a balancing act, but it’s one that you’re going to need to master before you step into the ring.

One of the best ways to make sure that your blog doesn’t succumb to failure is to work with a blog management company. These professionals can help you navigate these treacherous waters and help you produce a blog that will get results. If you have never blogged before, don’t put your company’s image in jeopardy by jumping in. Having a pro there to help you every step of the way will make a big difference in how your blog turns out.

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Originally posted 2008-06-17 05:29:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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It has been widely recognized that blogging is an excellent way to publish content to a website, and many corporations and other businesses are beginning to embrace this idea with a great amount of enthusiasm. Not only are companies creating corporate blogs, but sometimes a single employee blogs as well, such as the marketing manager or CEO of the company. Some large corporations like Google and Microsoft actually support their employees in their blogging efforts. Unfortunately, there are some major pitfalls that need to be considered when it comes to corporate blogging, including the need to address a conflict that exists between the openness expected of bloggers, and the confidentiality expected of many companies.

There are some big questions that need to be answered here, leading to corporate blogging pitfalls. How much should an employee be allowed to say about the inner workings of the company in their blog? It is obvious that secret formulas and insider information are off the table, but what else should not be said? Should employees be allowed to criticize the company for which they work? Should they be allowed to criticize the products they sell or the services that they offer? How much time should employees be allowed to spend on their blogging projects in general? Is this a part of their job description, or is it something they should be doing on their own time?

The best way to avoid these corporate blogging pitfalls is to address the answers to these questions before employees are allowed to keep up with blogs focusing on the company. It is clear that when smaller companies decide to venture into this arena, that they should follow the examples and guidelines set by the larger corporations that have been blogging for a lot longer. One of the best solutions is simply to draw up a set of blogging guidelines that everyone within the company must follow in order to maintain a blog. By doing this before any blogging projects are created, certain activities can be nipped in the bud before they ever become a problem. By establishing a list of suitable topics and unsuitable topics, a corporation or company can better dictate which corporate blogging practices are encouraged and which are not.

Here are some of the corporate blogging guidelines that would help companies large and small avoid corporate blogging pitfalls regarding confidentiality and bad press.

- Refrain from being critical of other products or other competing companies.
- Make it clear that you are stating your very own opinion, and not the opinion of the company as a whole.
- If you are unsure of a specific topic or subject, discuss it with a manager or colleague before posting.
- Do not share secrets belonging to the company, such as secret formulas or processes, or information relating to mergers, takeovers or other confidential information.
- Do not use the blog as a means for selling products overtly, but be authentic and informative instead.
- Do not mention customers or partners by name without express permission.

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Originally posted 2008-12-02 05:08:35. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Every Business Needs A Blog. Tips, tricks, advice, and pitfalls of corporate blogging.

The Carnival of Corporate Blogging is published weekly. Submission deadline is Friday 6pm pst (GMT -8).

Carnival Participation Guidelines:

1. Articles should focus on corporate blogging is some fashion.
2. One submission per week per blog. There will be another carnival in a week.
3. Original content submissions only.
4. You are strongly encourage to create a brief unique excerpt and include it in the remarks section of the article submission form.
5. If you submit an article to this carnival and it is selected for publication, please link to the published carnival from your blog.

Submit an article to the current open edition here: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_5476.html

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