You have made the decision to have a corporate blog. Why? Probably because every competitor in your particular market space has one and you do not want to be left behind.
Let me ask you a question before you get started on your blog.
Are you commited to its success?
I am sure that you, without hesitating to think, have said yes.
But, do you realize what the commitment is to make a blog successful?
1. You need valuable content. If you intend to regurgitate the same material that is already on your web site, then you will not succeed. The readers will quickly learn that they do not need to wait for a blog posting, but can search the web site for particular content.
2. Regular postings. Though every day is not a requirement, you do need to commit someone in the orgnization to ongoing posts. It is easy for a company to say that they will do this at the start of the blog, but as time goes one, it does become more of challenge.
Solution: One of the ways to solve #1 and #2 is to develop an editorial calendar, with both dates when specific content will be posted and who the writer or contributor will be.
3. How will people find you? The same ways that you promote your web sites are used to promote the blogs, though the names may chnage slightly, but without ongoing commitment to optimization of the blog, it will fall behind the blogs of the competiton.
Solution: Highlight the blog on your web site. But, do not just rely on this. Submit the blog to Technorati and other blog-specific search engines.
4. Tie it back into to the web strategy. What are goals for your corporate web site and how does the blog tie into that strategy? Are there cross-links back into content-rich areas in the web site? Do you offer links (that may open a new tab or window) of vendor-neutral blogs or web
sites?
The decision to start the blog is an easy one to make, the commitment and investment to make it a success is much harder.
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