10 blogging Do's & Don'ts

The benefits of business blogs

– AND the brickbats

There are lots of good reasons to blog. But some proponents of the art do talk a lot of ... (ahem) .. blogospheres on the subject.

They will tell you: How often to blog. How long your blog should be. How to optimise your blog for search engine spiders. What words you must stick in your headline. And the rest...

But let's get real.

First, here's a reminder of the real benefits of blogging, followed by some basic blogging do's and don'ts.

Some benefits of blogging

•          Be seen as an authority in your field

•          Raise the profile of your company & in-house expert(s)

•          Build your brand

•          Engage customers, fans, admirers

•          Refresh your website content

•          Boost your website’s search ranking & attract traffic (SEO)

•          Feed your social media activity

10 Do’s & Don’ts for business bloggers

•          Do it regularly (to boost SEO and engagement) but don’t think it has to be every day/week (see next).

•          Do have something worthwhile and valuable to say. If not, don’t waste your readers’ time. They may ignore your next knockout post.

•          Do share some insights or original comment. Don’t just parade your latest press release or parrot other pundits’ views.

•          Do be funny or controversial – but don’t undermine your authority or values with half-baked comments or upload your ego. It’s not all about you!

•          Do blog in your own, human voice (or use your organisation’s). Don’t be false – you need to be authentic and true to your values.

•          Don’t indulge in management speak. Do encourage dialogue. It’s meant to be a conversation, so invite and spark comment.

•          Don’t believe that posts have to run to 500 words or more. Do make it as long as it needs to be but as succinct as you can (and save the padding for your e-book).

•          Do optimise your headline and body text for the search robots with a few keywords and natural variants / phrases. Don’t forget it's the humans’ attention you really need to grab.

•          Do give people a way to get in touch, or another ‘call to action’. But don’t forget your blog is first and foremost about giving value, not selling.

•          Do make it informal and personal. But don’t – if you want to be respected – write as if the laws of grammar and spelling have been repealed.

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