7 Questions to Help You Assess Whether Blogging is Right for Your Business
Executive Summary
When you consider that Technorati tracks nearly 7,000 technology blogs, you can’t help but wonder if there is room in the blogosphere for another blogger. Besides, Twitter is all the rage, so maybe your time would be better spent tweeting 140-character messages.
There is just one flaw with that idea: IT buyers don’t hang out on Twitter, at least that’s the message from 1,685 IT professionals surveyed for TechTarget’s “2009 Media Consumption Report.”
Where do they turn for information when evaluating IT solutions? Blogs. Thirty-nine percent use them when they are in the early stages of IT problem awareness and 43 percent use them when researching alternative solutions.
Contrary to popular belief, “WordPress or Blogger?" isn't the only question a new blogger needs to answer before they start. To attract the desired audience and keep the blog going long-term, you'll need to think and act like a publisher. Here are seven questions to help you assess whether you are ready to step into the blogosphere.
Blogger readiness assessment question #1: Why do you want to start a blog?
If you are feeling pressured into a blog because your competitor has one, or your primary motivators are more website traffic and higher SEO rankings, you are not ready for a blog.
Of course these are fine secondary goals (the average technology blog garners 41 percent of its page views from search engines), but these reasons alone will not help you when you are staring at a blank screen at 11pm, or when there is “real business” that needs your attention. When forced to prioritize, you can be sure the blog will always lose.
While an individual blogger’s motivations may vary, all corporate bloggers agree you need passion to be successful. Passion is what will keep you personally interested and excited long after the newness of the blog wears off, and it is what will attract readers to you. If you are running a business, you certainly have passion. Your job is to articulate that passion and channel it into your blog.
Blogger readiness assessment question #2: Who is your target audience?
With passion articulated, it’s time to turn your attention to the type of audience you want to attract. Knowing your readers is paramount because it will set the tone for your blog and determine the language you use to communicate.
If you want to attract technical folks, for example, feel free to use technical terms in your blog posts.
If your goal is to influence C-level executives, you’ll need to ditch the technical jargon and speak directly to their leadership and business challenges.
If you want to attract prospects in the early stages of problem awareness, trade the industry lingo for general terms that these folks will use when searching online.
Zeroing in on your target audience also feeds into secondary goals like higher SEO rankings and more website traffic. Before you start blogging, create a list of target keywords and phrases to incorporate in your blog posts. The list will help ensure you attract the desired audience and search engine traffic, and it will help keep your blogging posts on topic.
Blogger readiness assessment question #3: What will you blog about?
Once you have a clear understanding as to why you want to blog and the audience you want to attract, it’s time to choose a subject (or theme) that will interest you and your target readers.
If you pick a topic that is too broad or too narrow, you’ll run out of ideas for new content or your posts will be all over the map. Either way, you’ll have a hard time attracting a steady readership.
Likewise, avoid the urge to use your blog as an advertising platform. Remember, IT buyers visit blogs to learn — not to be sold to — so use your blog to educate, discuss industry news and trends, and encourage an open exchange of ideas and opinions.
Blogger readiness assessment question #4: How will you measure success?
The majority of corporate bloggers surveyed for Technorati’s “State of the Blogosphere 2009” said they measure success by counting unique visitors, reader comments, incoming links, and RSS subscribers.
While I agree these statistics are valuable, they will not give you the entire picture when it comes to evaluating the impact that you are making with your blog. You should also monitor what people are saying about you outside of the blog. Incoming links provide hints, but some people will talk without linking back to your blog.
Encourage discussions outside the blog by giving readers sociable links they can click when they Digg something you say. Then, monitor those discussions by searching social networking sites, search engines, blog directories, and social monitoring tools like Social Mention. It sounds time consuming, but most sites have alert capabilities to automate this work.
Some bloggers also measure success by tracking new connections on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. If this is one of your goals, encourage this behavior in the blog by giving readers quick connection links to these sites.
Of course, we all wish people would comment on our posts, but don’t be discouraged if week after week you see zero comments. Many readers prefer to remain anonymous. If they like what they read, they’ll send you an e-mail directly or share it via the sociable links in your blog.
Finally, don’t expect miracles over night. Like any good PR activity, you need to remain patient, persistent, and consistent with your blogging.
Blogger readiness assessment question #5: Who will be the voice in the blog?
The biggest benefit corporate bloggers say they get from blogging is recognition as an industry thought leader. Therefore before you start blogging, you’ll want to identify whom you want to serve as your thought leader. Often times, this is the company CEO, but the person you choose should reflect the type of audience you want to attract to your blog. If your goal is to attract technical people, then the CTO or CIO are suitable choices.
It is fine to feature several people in your blog, but I recommend you limit the number of regular contributors to avoid confusing readers with too many voices and opinions.
Blogger readiness assessment question #6: Are you willing to commit time and resources?
In all likelihood, the biggest hurdle to blogging success will be you. Most bloggers start out enthusiastic, but as time goes on their interest wanes and they find they have “more important things to do.”
Every designated blogger will need time to research, plan, and write content, which for many professional bloggers is 10 hours or more per week. Factor in extra time and resources to review content and promote the blog.
If you can’t afford to have your blogger spend 25 percent of their time on blog activities, you can spread the workload by featuring multiple bloggers or guest bloggers (review my caution in question #5), or hire a ghostwriter to create the posts. Your blogger(s) will still need to make time to discuss blog topics with the ghostwriter, but over time, the writer can be a valuable addition to the blogging team.
Blogger readiness assessment question #7: Are you willing to commit to a schedule?
How many magazines and e-newsletters do you subscribe to that do not have a regular routine? If readers visit your blog and see outdated posts, eventually they’ll stop coming altogether.
As a publisher — yes, you become a publisher when you start blogging — you should create an editorial calendar that covers three to six months worth of posts. The calendar will help you ascertain whether your proposed topic (question #3) is a good choice, but don’t feel constrained by the schedule. You will want to keep the editorial calendar flexible to respond to current news and events.
How many posts should you do each week? That’s entirely up to you. I recommend starting out slowly, setting an initial target of one to two posts per month and increasing the frequency once you are comfortable with the routine and time commitment. Here again, hiring outside expertise can help you stick to a schedule.
Conclusion
By now, I hope you have a better appreciation for what it will take to make your blog successful. It’s easy to start a blog. It’s entirely different to keep it alive with fresh content.
Is it worth it? Fifty-three percent of the corporate bloggers surveyed by Technorati say their plans for the future include blogging more frequently; a sign that tells me yes, it is working.
Happy blogging!