Make Blogging Work for Your Business

Are you ready to make blogging work for your business? If you already know the benefits associated with corporate blogging, then the next step is to put these concepts to work by creating your own corporate blog and sharing your company with the world. This is part 3 in a short series on tips for making blogging work for you.

12 – Listen to what people are saying when they talk about you.

There are a wide variety of different tools that you can use in order to monitor the conversation. One of the most popular ones is to set up a Google Alert with your name, along with another for the name of your blog, and other alerts for topics that are important to you. Google will send you an e-mail any time one of your key terms is mentioned online.

13 – Find new ways to publicize your blog to your entire network.

Print the URL of your blog on your business cards; include it in your e-mail signature, post it on your LinkedIn account, mention it in your Facebook account, Twitter it, and find plenty of other ways to get the word out about your blog. The more you most your blog URL on the internet, the more likely you will be to have it seen.

14 – Install Analytic Software, allowing you to track your traffic and where it is coming from.

One of the most popular options is Google Analytics, which can be found at http://www.google.com/Analytics for free. Another excellent tool worth considering is Quantcast, which is especially useful when you are selling advertising on your site and want to be able to define your audience, measuring your site capabilities based on your traffic.

15 – Create content that is both useful and timely for your blog.

This is well worth mentioning, because content is what fuels a blog and keeps readers coming back to it for more. You also need to consider the search engine optimization value for your blog and its content. Your blog content should be search engine optimized in order for you to get the most out of your blog.

16 – Use audio, video, photos and other rich media to bring your blog to life.

Different people respond to different types of media in different ways. Create a blog radio show, or host a show with topics relating to your industry and pepper your blog with these media pieces in addition to your normal blog topics. Podcasts are another excellent way to get the most out of your corporate blog, giving your readers other forms of media to take advantage of.

17 – Make it easy for your readers to get in contact with you.

Give your readers numerous means of contacting you, including an e-mail address, a phone number, the location of your office, and anything else that will allow your readers to find you.
There are plenty of other ways to get the most out of your corporate blog, but these seventeen tips provide an excellent jumping off point to build your blog from.