February 21st, 2008

There are many benefits to having your business blog, even though it may take a few months to start really seeing it. Many entrepreneurs are so eager to adopt the latest trends that by the time it starts to work, they’re already on to the next big thing.

The key to avoiding the business blog blues is to look out for the seven deadly decisions:

1 – Keep updating. Even if you aren’t feeling like it, trudge ahead. If your industry doesn’t change on a daily basis, feel free to write articles in advance and post them on a publications schedule dating out a month or more. It gives you breathing room. If you’re still losing interest, consider asking staff members to contribute or hiring an outside professional with professional blogging experience.

2 – Moderate comments. Comment fields are a great way to stay in touch with your customers and potential customers, but it can also be a way for your competitors to post negative remarks about you, no matter how untrue they may be. Moderating your comments allows you to see what people are saying before anyone else gets to read the negativity, and it stops the spammers and scammers from hijacking your faithfully created business newsletter.

3 – Keep it civil. Don’t bad mouth your competitors, your enemies and especially not your readers. Too often I still see blogs on which a question comes in that may be taken as critical and before you know it, the webmaster has gone to war with his or her own reader, for everyone to see. There is no winner in a war of negativity, so keep your chin up and your words balanced, there’s no knowing when they’ll come back on you.

4 – Check for mistakes. At least every few days you should check the site to make sure it’s still in working order. Every few weeks you should make sure your links are working and all relevant contact information is up to date.

5 – Stay relevant. If you run out of ideas or relevant products to discuss, don’t write an article about something you don’t do for a living, and definitely don’t write about the fact that you’ve run out of ideas. Look to see what other people are writing about inside and outside of your field, and if you’re still stuck, start asking around. If push comes to shove, you can always hire out, but you shouldn’t need to do that unless you’re also out of time.

6 – Keywords, keywords, keywords! Only you know exactly what it is that you do, so make sure you’re using your keywords. If you’re writing about roofing materials, don’t just call it “comp,” call it “composition,” “three-tab,” use the manufacturer names and anything else you think applies. This isn’t defrauding the search engines; it’s putting the words in your story that people are likely to use.

7 – Promotion. Since you already have a business, and one can assume a number of customers, you need to tap in to them to get your blog off the ground and keep it growing. Put a link to it on patient appointment cards and even your business cards. If you send out client Christmas cards, mention the blog in there and watch your readership spike. If you don’t send out holiday cards, this is the year to start.

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