Small Business Website Services

Interestingly enough, I found this list in a magazine, but could not find it online. I thought it offered such valuable information that I needed to share it here, and it is especially appropriate considering it is the first official blog entry on my site. The “Ten Things to Consider Before You Blog” was found in The Real Estate Professional Magazine’s July/August 2007 Edition, written by Blogging Systems Group founder and CEO Richard Nacht:

1) Understand why you want to use a blog.
Don’t do it because it’s the latest Internet trend of just because everyone else is doing it. Have some sense of your specific purpose. For example, are you using the blog as a marketing channel, or will it be more for company news and updates?

2) Consider its core message.
What are you going to write about? What topics will be covered? What “tone” will you give the blog? Should it be warm and humorous, or more straightforward and informational?

3) Determine who is going to write it.
If there is a pain point in blogging, it’s this. Blogs, especially business blogs, take time and forethought. They need someone who understands how to write “blog-style.” Invariably, the blogger will inject their own personality, so it’s incumbent upon you to find a writer who understands what makes your company tick and can accurately reflect its persona.  Keep in mind often the best person to write it is you.

4) Determine whether you are prepared to engage the conversation without attempting to control the communication.
The “blogosphere” is a no-holds-barred free-for-all means of communication.  It’s a two-way street.  Using the comments option built into most blog platforms, readers can respond to what you have said.  Their responses may not always be kind.  In fact, depending on their experience with your company and its product or services, they may even be caustic.  Not every organization is prpared for such rawl unedited content to show up on their public website (blog).

5) Establish a company blogging policy and posting guidelines.
Susannah Gardner’s book Buzz Marketing with Blogs For Dummies, contains an entire section on this subject.  Let me encourage you to purchase the book for a fuller explanation.

6) Monitor what is being said about your company and your industry.
There are a number of reasons to do this, the most obvious being to find out how people view your company.  You may find no one is talking about you at all, or that what is being said has negative connotations (or positive for that matter).  If you are not being talked about, even to a small degree, a blog can help change that.  If your company is being viewed negatively, you can use a blog to challenge mis-perceptions.

7) Decide on a blog platform.
This is not difficult as many good platforms are available.  If your blog is going to be self-standing, separate it from your company website.  Typepad is a good solution.  If you want to include it inside your overall website structure, Movable Type or WordPress are good options. Another option to consider is the platform offered by my company, Blogging Systems Group, which allows for the building of branded blog communities.  You can find more information at www.bloggingsystems.com.

Determine ways to market your blog.
If the blog has marketing reamifications, getting the attention of search engines is vital.  There are a variety of ways to do that, including submitting the blog to a number of search engines and blog directories.

9) Develop a plan to track statistics.
This is an area where bloggers have not traditionally paid much attention. However, when using blogs for marketing purposes, it is vital to know the effect they are having on your bottom line.  Blogs are just like any other website, in that their effect should bre tracked in terms of unique visitors, page views and conversion rates.

10) Be sure to know your keywords.
Blogs can help customers find your busienss when they are searching on Google or other sites.  therefore, it is important to know what words customers most often use to find you via the searh engines, and what words show up in competitor or industry blogs on a regular basis that help place them high in Google’s index.