How to Launch a Business Blog the Right Way

Business blogs can serve as an excellent way to put a face on your business, discuss issues that aren’t fit for a press release or engage with customers in a more carefully controlled manner than social media.

Or it can turn into a dumping ground for content or idle pages that turn off those who find it. Here are a few tips on how to launch a business blog the right way.

Understand the Purpose of the Blog

Before you write a paper, you need to know the general topic. Before you start writing a blog, the equivalent of a series of articles, you need to know your purpose.

Are you trying to create a personalized connection with your customer, such as putting out news about the company and its people that doesn’t fit the standard press release format? Are you trying to build up your brand’s recognition or credentials? Or are you trying to promote your own, personal credentials through the brand?

Understand What Works and Doesn’t Work on a Blog

Your blog is not intended to be a place to post your press releases. In fact, that actually hurts your blog via the duplicate content penalty. What you can do is write about the upcoming release of your new product in a less formal way, interview the engineers who designed it or talk about customers’ reactions at product demonstrations. Do cross-link the blog posting to any online videos or articles about your business, especially when you discuss the content by others in your blog.

Tap into Viral Content the Right Way

A good use of a company blog is to tap into viral content the right way by giving your opinion or spin on the subject. This only works, though, if your take is relevant to your brand or personal expertise as well as your audience. For example, if you're in the traveling business you could publish viral stories like this one that was published on Wall Street OTC on the theories to explain the disappearance of the Maya empire. You could, for instance, mention that this is just one more reason to visit that part of the world via one of your travel packages.

Set Goals and Keep Them Up

A large proportion of blogs, both personal and professional, are dormant. You may even see the sputtering out of the blog as the intervals between posts become longer before stopping altogether. The solution to this is to set goals you can keep and then work to keep them. It doesn’t matter if you have five blog postings in the first month. It matters more that you have at least one blog post a month to keep the readers engaged and show visitors that the site is still going.

A business blog can be a great tool to build your credibility and awareness in your brand. Always remember to know what your blog’s purpose is before you start writing it, understand the type of content you can post on the blog and use the power of viral posts to build traction for your blog without too much effort.