Wednesday, December 29, 2010

5 Things to Consider Before Starting a Blog

In today's marketing world with the importance of web marketing booming, it's considered a best practice for businesses to have their own blog. 

Trust me I'm not saying otherwise, there are numerous benefits to having a well run business blog.  But that doesn't mean that you're in the position right now to have one.

Here are some things you should keep in mind before starting your blog (business or otherwise) and during the pre-planning sessions.

 1: Time Commitment - guess what, while blogging can look like a free way to market yourself it truly isn't. 



Why?  Simple: Time Is Money!  And blogging can take a lot of time (especially when you're first starting up).  You need to be sure that either you (or one of your partners/employees) has enough time to regularly and frequently post quality content to your blog.

 2: What is the Goal of your blog - Make sure you know why you're starting your blog before you do.  What is the main purpose?  Does it have any secondary purposes?


Are you blogging to build SEO benefits for your website?  Are you blogging to spread the word about your company through the web?  Are you blogging to build the aura of expertise around you and your company? 

Note: if the ONLY reason that you're considering blogging is for SEO benefits, than you need to find something else to do.  Why?  Because readers and subscribers can tell when you're talking about/for you and not thinking about them.

 3: Who are you writing to?  Or, to be better put, who are you talking WITH?


Who are you looking to build a conversation with (basically: who's your potential customer)?  Think about gender, age, interests, communication styles, and more as you're building a profile for your target audience. 

Then, take that knowledge and build the theme of your blog (and the content) for that profile.  It needs to be interesting to your potential customer base, or you are just wasting your time.

Note: a blog is meant to build interaction between you and your readers/subscribers.  It is not a way for you to take a bullhorn to their ears (they'll just ignore you anyway).

 4: What voice will you use?  How will you be sharing your expertise and information with your audience?



Will you be chatty or informative?  Formal or informal? Note: keep the profile of your target audience in mind because the goal is to - Engage!

 5: How will you spread the word?  (What's the use blogging if you aren't reaching an audience.)


Where does your potential customer spend time on the web?  How will you let her know that your blog has content that she'd be interested in?  There are many ways to do this, which ways do you think will work best for you?

Remember: think outside of the box.

How about you?  Do you have any tips on what people should consider before blogging?  Or are you unsure on how to proceed yourself?

1 comment:

  1. Content is the heart of any blog. It must be interesting. Must be something that is well-written that compliments your target reader but also must be something that your readers will enjoy. In this way, they can easily relate to it and interact. When readers interact and started to give their own opinions, this will only mean, that your blog is very effective.

    There really are a lot of things to consider when starting a blog, and some of those are stated on this article. Thanks for sharing!

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