Transform Your Business Blog

There are plenty of guides to business blogging out there, but I thought I’d share eleven pointers that I’ve picked up through my own experience. Following these will put any business blog on the path to success - which we should define as carrying a stable, interested readership.

1. Get personal - Use your first and last name and have a picture of yourself on the blog. This is true for all members of your orginazation who post to the blog, if it’s used in common. Include a short bio as well. Not only does this help people become more familiar with the people behind the logo, it also lends some credibility to the authors and organization iteself.

2. Don’t get too personal - Few business blogs can get away with posting information about family events or pets. It’s a distraction. Focus on what people came to read.

3. Have clearly defined categories - Nothing is more frustrating than not knowing what the names in the category menu mean. With that in mind, keep the number of categories under ten, as a general rule. Too many categories is a sign that a blog is losing its focus.

4. Do not post a series of product release information - It’s boring. People won’t bookmark it and come back unless your business happens to be Ferrari. The regular website is the place for this, under the ‘products’ heading or sprinkled on the sidebar.

5. Spelling and grammar - ‘Nuff said.

6. Make sure permalinks and trackback links work - I’ve seen many blogs where they haven’t worked. They had a great idea and I wanted to link to them, but the trackback didn’t work. Blogging is about community and links, so make sure that people can easily permalink or trackback to you and help spread your ideas.

7. Keep out spam - The War on Spam hardly seems winnable, but there are way to keep your blog free of it. One is to be vigilant and keep an eye on your recent comments. There are blogs that don’t allow comments, or force people to register to make comments, but I think this takes away from a blog’s appeal to the community.

8. Use Technorati - A lot of people search Technorati for interesting blogs. If you’re blogging enough and with the right keywords and links, you will appear in their searches. If other people like what you write, they will link to you. Someday, you might even end up one of the highest ranked blogs on Technorati, which is quite an accomplishment.

9. Make use of links, trackbacks, and comments - Links on your own blog help with search engine visibility, as well as point people to further reading on a topic. Trackbacks show someone that you liked what they had to say. And commenting in other blogs tells them, “Hi! I’m here. I’ve got great stuff to say, come read my blog.”

10. Show your business from a new angle - A blog is your chance to show your culture to the world. Let customers see what they usually can’t. Stonyfield Farm’s blog occasionally posts video clips of their cows. This is wonderful - it actually allows us to see what goes on at the farm on a day-to-day basis. It builds an on-demand connection to the business that traditional marketing and advertsing can’t do.

11. Have fun! - If blogging about your business isn’t fun, it must be an awful place to work. Imagine a blog (literally) from hell. Try new things and speak your mind and let out some new ideas. If your business seems fun, they’ll come back for more.

There you have it. I’m sure there are plently more good tips, so let me have it if you think I’ve forgotten something!

For the inaugural post in the Ireja Transform Your Business Blog, we have a short quiz. No cheating!

Question: What do the following people have in common?

1. Bob Parsons - CEO and founder of GoDaddy.com
2. Federico Minoli - CEO and President of Ducati
3. Hu Yoshida - Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Hitachi Data Systems
4. Irving Wladawsky-Berger - Vice President, Technical Strategy and Innovation at IBM
5. John Mackey - CEO of Whole Foods Market

Stumped? Here’s a hint: It lets customers hear from them directly.

Ok, a few more:

1. Jonathan Schwartz - President and CEO of Sun Microsystems
2. Mark Cuban - Owner of the Dallas Mavericks
3. Randy Baseler - Vice President of Marketing at Boeing
4. Richard Edelman - President and CEO of Edelman
5. Karen Christensen - CEO of the Berkshire Publishing Group

Still wondering? Another hint: It helps them tell the story behind their companies.

A few more:

1. Bob Langert - Vice President of Corporate Responsibility at McDonalds
2. Bob Lutz - Vice Chairman of General Motors
3. Mena Trott - President and Co-Founder of Six Apart
4. Craig Newmark - Founder and Director of Craigslist.com
5. David Sifry - Founder and CEO of Technorati

You got it, right? I’ll give it up just in case:

Answer: They are all blogging.

Name links go to the blogs. Any questions?