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Blog Hogs: How do they do it?

June 10th, 2009

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photo credit: Jonny Mac / JMc Photo

By Matt Cook
Point.Click Media

As we know, blogs are one of the best communication tools on the web today. Looking at them from a purely business standpoint, they are an outstanding way for a company to offer additional interaction with their clients.

Many business owners love the prospect of writing a blog and keeping in touch with their customers, however they believe they are much too busy to devote serious time to blogging. They like the prospect of writing and keeping a blog but then say to themselves: “I don’t have the time to write a daily article. Not only that, but what am I going to write about?”

What we’re looking at today are just a few common practices that can help make blogging a key marketing tool that anyone can implement into their website even if you’re out pounding the pavement 7 days a week and your company laundry list is longer than the Old Testament. Here are 3 questions that can help you get started:

1. How often should I blog?

A daily blog is really not a necessity, but it does need to be updated regularly. There are people out there who write blogs for a living, but for you that’s probably a little much. Weekly, biweekly or even monthly updates can be sufficient. The idea is to keep your business in the know and to let everyone know that you haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. How often you want to do that is up to you. There’s no set rule that says “I need to update this many times to be successful”. If you truly do have something to tell your customers every day then that’s great! Just make sure that the information is useful to your audience. They may not want to know how many red lights you caught on the way to work that morning.

2. Where do I get ideas?

You’re an expert in your field. People likely come to you with questions about various topics related to your business. You can use these questions as topics. Blogs also don’t need to be full-length articles – they can be as simple as a weekly tip or a company update about a recent fundraiser or contract that was awarded to your business. Anything you believe will interest your clients is a good start.

3. How do I stay dedicated and disciplined?

Let’s be honest. We all fall off the wagon sooner or later. This is why New Years resolutions are not written in stone. Most blogging software today has built-in auto-publishing features that allow you to write a number of blog posts at one time and then schedule them to publish themselves at desired intervals over time. You don’t need to write a new article every day or week. You can sit down one afternoon and write 3 or 4 posts and then set them to publish weekly for the next month. It is also much easier to brainstorm new topics once your creative juices are already flowing.

These are just a few items to show you that anyone can put a blog to good use. Don’t be frightened by the big bad punch clock thinking you’ll never have time for it. You’ll see that once your blog starts producing feedback and results, you’ll make the time and wonder why you were scared of it in the first place.

Now that we’ve chased off the blogging boogeyman and you’re ready to get started, contact Point.Click Media.

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Posted in Web Tools on June 10th, 2009

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