Manage a Successful Company Blog

Not all corporate blogs are created equal. & there's lots of examples of company blogs that make it appear as though business walking a blog is a less than desirable promotion tactic. However, the benefits of making a successful business weblog are limitless. A properly manged company weblog can maximize awareness, build community, increase potential inbound leads, drive traffic to your web-site & far more.

Basically put - a well constructed company weblog can alter your business - for the better.

If you're prepared to start a successful company weblog (or improve your current), we've asked0 entrepreneurs to share essential tips on how to generate & manage it successfully.

1. Make it short and sweet.

Focus on short lists of tips that speak to customer needs. Too often, our blogs become soapboxes where we preach to the choir – isolating a potential customer base.

2. Have a direction.

The writer often forgets who they are writing for in an effort to attract a larger audience. They forget that the goal of a company blog should be to increase conversions (either a subscription to a newsletter, purchase of an e-commerce product, etc) not to increase traffic. A great way to avoid this mistake is to create reader personas and think about how your article answers a particular question that they may have.

3. Become a stalker.

Develop a spreadsheet listing all of the blogs in your niche along with stats about the number of visitors, the number of Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin followers and the Google Page Rank. Once you’ve identified and ranked the importance of these bloggers, start interacting with them by commenting on their posts, re-tweeting their posts, including links to them in your posts or a weekly round-up of some kind.

Once you’ve shared some love, it’s time to cash in by asking for a chance to guest post on their site, asking them to contribute to a guide or Q&A post or ask them for an interview. This strategy wins actual traffic from their visitor base while also building critical hyperlinks that will drive your long term SEO.

4. Create a winning formula.

Develop quality content, stay consistent with the frequency of your blog posts, and use keywords. We’re not blogging pros but just by staying consistent with this formula, we were recently named one of the top 25 small business blogs to follow for 2012 by Apptivo.

5. Connect with the reader.

Human beings are emotional creatures and your company blog readers are no exception. Leverage the language of emotional intelligence within your writing to engage your readers. By infusing emotional intelligence into your company blog, you will connect with your readers and provide insightful perspective.