Blogging Part 3

I HAVE A BLOG NOW WHAT?
You have gone through the trouble of creating your blog, editing your settings and even customizing it a little and now your ready to start writing, but your stuck! Well join the club as anybody that has ever written content about themselves, a corporate function or anything else for that matter has had the same feeling.

If your blog is for a large corporation the content of your blog will usually be handled by your marketing staff, but if your a small business, chances are you are the marketing staff.

Below are some helpful hints on how to get started:

1- See whar other people are writing about within your industry. For example if you are a dive company do a search for "Dive Blogs" on the web and chances are you'll see hundreds of other companies that are already blogging.

2- Take a piece of paper and write down items that customers request from you regularly in e-mails or phone calls. For example if your company offers outdoor activities, you may want to write about weather conditions, clothing to be worn, or what was experienced on your last outing.

3- Keep writing! If you get on a roll and finish one article, move on to another, and then another. You do not have to post them all at the same time, if you post weekly and write four articles you now have an entire months worth of content.

4- Make it matter! Remember you are writing content for your customers, so always keep them in mind, but there is also absolutely nothing wrong with providing Grandmas'cookie recipe to your guests that enjoyed them during a day trip with your company.

YOUR BLOG IS A TOOL
As with any marketing strategy it usually does not not consist of just one form of media and the same is true with a blog. In most cases your blog should be used in conjuction with your website, newsletters, and print media. For example if you publish a newsletter include a brief overview of your posts with links to your blogs.

Encourage your management to create a blog, for example if your company offers several completely different products, create individual blogs for each and then cross promote them (link to each other).

IN CLOSING
It may seem to be a daunting task, but creating and managing a blog isn't. You will look back months or even years from now and what started out as a bi-weekly or monthly blog has now become a major marketing tool for your company.

Blogging is here to stay and what was once thought of a passing thought is now considered a must for any company. Remember it was not that long ago when people asked the question, "does my business need a website", and we all know the answer to that.

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