10 business blogging tips

Earlier today I took part in a panel discussion at an IABCLV (International Association of Business Communicators/Las Vegas) luncheon. My portion of the presentation was focused on blogging for your business. After the event I was asked if my list of tips would be available online. Hey now, that's not a bad idea!

I wanted my presentation to be more of a discussion, so there are no pretty slides and no detailed notes. Just a few short bits of information to start off a conversation.

10 Business Blogging Tips

  1. Blog regularly
    • Create an editorial calendar
    • Get others in the company involved
  2. No press releases
    • Your blog can be professional without being ‘stuffy’
  3. Write about your industry, not just yourself
    • Did something big happen in your industry, then give your opinion
  4. Allow comments
    • Get your readers involved
    • Respond as often as you can
    • Where possible, try to make your responses lead to further discussion
  5. The broken window theory
    • You have to monitor your site’s comments or if people see spam or inappropriate material, they’ll think it’s acceptable and will likely continue the trend or just leave.
  6. Link back to old articles
    • Ever been on a wiki-crawl?
    • Related posts plugins
  7. FULL RSS feed
    • Ipad, iphone = reading on the go. Let people read your full articles
  8. Sharing tools (twitter/facebook/digg/stumbleupon)
    • Let your readers promote your content for you
  9. Facebook page for your blog/company
    • Add “Like” buttons to your posts
    • Auto-publish your posts to your facebook page
  10. Set expectations at your company
    • Just like business success doesn’t happen overnight, neither will your blog’s

If there's something you think I've missed, let me know!