The Green Cross Code of Blogging
Posted 22 May 2007 at 9:50AM by Mark White in Business blogging
Starting a blog for the first time, there is a general tendency to want to rush in, get it set up quickly and begin posting as soon as possible. Let's face it, it's an exciting time - something new for us to help develop our business and another string to our marketing bow.
While this approach may be appropriate for personal blogs, when you set up a business blog, I would offer a word of caution. A lot of blogs which are set up in this way don't achieve the level of success that they could. The problem is that they suffer from a lack of focus and so ultimately die a death because they lose direction, impetus and, as a result, their readership.
To help to avoid this problem, I'd recommend that you try something that I call the Green Cross Code of Blogging.
STOP!
Wait, don't immediately sit down to write your first post. Instead, step back and take the time to plan some of the aspects that will help to ensure that your blog is successful. Bear in mind that anything you publish is immediately available and distributed across the web, so a live blog isn't going to be the best place to do testing.
THINK
There are several elements that you should be clear about as you start a blog - these would include which blogging software to use, who will write the blog, where it should appear and how much time to devote to it. However, there are three key questions which you definitely need answers to:
i) what do you want to do with your blog?
ii) who is the target audience you are writing for?
iii) what results are you looking for?
If you have clear answers to these right from the start, then you'll find that it'll allow you to give your blog the focus that will help it to be a success.
LOOK
Take the time to have a look at the blogs of other companies in your own or similar industries - see what they are writing about and also check out the format and presentation of their blogs. Note what you like about them and what you think would work for your readers and then use that information as you set up your own. The best place to start is a specialist Blog Search Engine such as Technorati where you can find blogs dealing with similar areas to your own, see who they link to and get a feel for what already exists.
LISTEN
When you start a blog, you are effectively joining a whole range of conversations which are already taking place, certainly about your industry and quite possibly about your company too. It's like entering a big exhibition hall full of people talking rather than sitting down for a quiet one-on-one chat. So give yourself a head start and "listen" to the conversations going on in the blogosphere - both to what people are saying and who is saying it.
By following the topics and references to people who are mentioned, you can develop a good understanding of the principal contributors and their opinions. This in turn will put you in a much stronger position as you start to post with a better feel for what others are doing and saying, and whom you should get in contact with.
BLOG
With all of the information that you have gathered together, plan your blog accordingly, keeping a close eye on the goals that you want to achieve. Map out and, where possible, write the posts that you want to publish for the first couple of weeks - that's the time you'll be laying down the foundations for your blog both with your readers and the search engines.
At the same time, keep checking the blogs you found and other sources of information (RSS is a great way to do this easily) as well as listening to what's being said. It'll not only provide you with additional ideas for posts but also allow you to comment on other blogs and help the promotion of your own.
For most business activities, spending time up front to research and plan them will pay you back handsomely later on, and a blog is no different. Being clear about what you want the blog to achieve will help your writers and will give you a better chance to attract those people who will be most interested in what you are saying.
So, when you start a blog, always remember the Green Cross Code of Blogging:
STOP! - THINK - LOOK - LISTEN - BLOG
Tags: Business Blogging, Corporate Blogs, Setting up a blog
New feature: Rate this post!
Average rating: 4.2/5
