Tweet

Business Blog Step 22 - General Advice

Guest post by: Gary Baker

Article Overview: If you organise and use your business blog correctly then you will be amazed by the results it can produce for you, though this will be dependent on the work that you are able to put into it. Like any marketing and communications tool, the better use you make of it, the more successful it will be – by following the points below, you should be able to make sure that all the time and effort you are channelling into the blog is being used to positive effect.

Business Blog Step 22 - General Advice

If you organise and use your business blog correctly then you will be amazed by the results it can produce for you, though this will be dependent on the work that you are able to put into it.

Like any marketing and communications tool, the better use you make of it, the more successful it will be – by following the points below, you should be able to make sure that all the time and effort you are channelling into the blog is being used to positive effect.

Don’t skimp on time spent planning your blog

The planning process for your business blog is a crucial time but unfortunately one that is often skirted over or hurriedly done. By spending a little time planning out what you want to achieve with your blog and how you will do it, you will save a great deal of pain later on.

Time spent in outlining the focus and the target audience of your blog will pay handsome dividends and you should ideally also make time to map out the posts for the first few weeks so that the initial postings go smoothly.

Keep navigation easy

Blogs are structured automatically for you but you should still make sure that the categories are well indicated. Let them get back to your main blog home page quickly and easily (convention suggests that clicking on the banner at the top should take you back to the home page).

Excessively long lists of categories will cause confusion – so, if you have lots of categories that you wish to include, then break them down into 2 or 3 sub groups and make them easier to use and navigate in that way.

Make key posts easy to find

Once you have a number of posts on your site, then make sure that the ones which really describe what your business is all about are not hidden away within the structure of your Blog.

Instead, create a page which is linked to directly from your sidebar or your home page, called something such as “Top 10 posts” or “Key Articles” or whatever you feel best describes them. This page can then contain links to all of your key posts. In this way, you make sure that they are highlighted in amongst all of the other information that you provide.

Profile and contact details

Not putting a profile and contact details on your blog is certainly missing out on an opportunity and potentially shooting yourself in the foot – this is particularly the case if your blog is set up as a stand alone site rather than integrated as part of your company website.

We mentioned this in the set up stage but it is worth re-iterating here. If I find what I am reading interesting then I may want to get in touch with the author, so make it easy for me to do so! You should also use your profile page as the place where you can outline the goals of your blog as well as presenting yourself – use this to achieve maximum effect for yourself.

Create your own look and feel

All blog software comes with base templates which dictate what a Blog looks like – whatever you do, don’t leave it as this default base version! There is nothing worse than spending time creating a wonderful blog full of excellent information and then leave it looking like thousands of others – would you do that with a website or with a book? No!

Make sure that you change it either yourself or get someone in to do it for you – it will differentiate you and what you have to say as well as help with your positioning, so make the most of it.

Avoid a hosted system for a business blog

You need control over any important aspect of your business and a business blog is just that, so don’t leave it on a hosted system where you have little flexibility or that all important control factor. To use it and develop it properly, you need to have full access to all the aspects – only in this way will you reap the rewards over time.

Having this control also helps 100% in work you do with Search Engines – if you are already a blogger user (for example) then you will be blown away by the extra ability that a system such as WordPress can give you when it comes to the search engines rankings.

Not setting up friendly permalinks

Setting up search engine and visitor friendly permalinks and URLs for your blog is beneficial from all points of view and so something that you should certainly do from day one.

Related Articles
  Words of Wisdom You Can Really Put to Work
  How To Write A SEO Friendly Blog Post
  How to Guest Blog
  #58 Creating Great Content For Your Blog
  How to Get Started with Blogs for Real Estate Marketing
  3 ways to maximise your keywords in articles you get from Article Writing Services
  Must Do Things To Make Money With Your Home Business
  Business Blog Step 12 - Promotion Using Methods Specific to Blogs
  Article #41 How To Do Blogging and Podcasting
  Blog syndication: What's the Measurable Value?
  What’s the measurable value of blog syndication?
  Blogging The Easy Way Is More Than A Trend
  Market Your Blog To The Masses
  Blogheads
  How to Create a Writing Portfolio Before You Have Writing Clients
  Should Your Blog Posts Have a Call to Action?
  The Trump Entrepreneur Initiative Blog
  Can You Really Make Money Flipping Blogs?
  To Make Money You Need To Sell Your Services
  5 Ways to Make Someone Say “WOW, I Want to Be Your Client”

Article Tags: advice, blog, blogging, blogging for beginners, business blogs, organising your blog, wordpress, wordpresscom, wordpressorg



Related Forum Posts
Re: Your choice between... - I will take the $100,000 and double it on it becomes millions before I spend it. Though I am crazy about information, yet I would rather take the money and turn it into a million before I spend a dime out of it. I will do it in 4 steps. Step 1 turn $100,000 to $200,000 Step 2 turn $200,000 to $400,000 Step 3 turn $400,000 to $800,000 Step 4 turn $800,000 to $1600,000. After getting the goal of step 4, I will spend the $600,000 on myself then continue to double the millions again. I could then by the book for $1,000,000
Step by step approach - Here's what I would do; Step 1 - Observe Wal-Mart’s target customers, what does Wal-Mart offer them? How long do they stay? Discover what it is that they might want or need that Wal-Mart doesn't offer, and then write those ideas down. Some ideas to get you started are - A cafe or fast food venue, something for the kids to do while the parents shop, etc Step 2 - Take that list, and weigh up the pros and cons of each idea, and then select the best one for you. Don't worry about not using all the space. Step 3 - Start the best business for you, and then release the other ideas to the general market and sublet the rest of the space to those who could fill some of the niches you've come up with, plus any they can come up with. If money isn't a factor then developing the building to suit multiple small leases may be a better option, as it's a diversified income, which is potentially more stable than one big income stream.
Need a book recommendation for writing better - I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing skills, so I was just wondering if anyone could recommend a good copywriting or copyediting book? I was actually thinking of reading "The Copywriter's Handbook : A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Copy That Sells" by Robert W Bly [u:w3cg00nn]OR[/u:w3cg00nn] "The Copyeditor's Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications" by Amy Einsohn. Would anyone know if these books are any good? Thanks
Re: Best Internet Marketing Strategy - Hi David, I agree about the Blogosphere. You have a smaller group that Blog, but do so on the premise that they think they should, but have never really considered the purpose of their Blog. Then I think there are a few SEO or Internet Marketing types that see Blogging as just another link building strategy. But the largest group of Bloggers, tend to be people who enjoy writing and discussing their topics of interest. Blogging is good for link building, but the true Blogger is a breed apart from the rest. They want to dialog, to debate, to have feedback and they are very willing to link to other worthwhile conversations that are relevant to their topic. I agree with you. These group of Bloggers obviously are passionate about their writing and together, they create huge conversation trails interactive and travel from Blog to Blog. But the evidence is clear with this group that loves what they write about. With comments enabled on a Blog and having a Blog tuned to a specific purpose you already have the evidence of original Social Media.
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

What is Discretionary Cash Flow

Designing Employee-Enhancing Training Programs

The Death of the Sales Magazine

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.