Blogging is Not for Everyone

This probably sounds like blasphemy. To not blog goes against what everyone has been telling you. All good marketing campaigns include a blog nowadays, right?

No.

And the primary reason is clear. If you’re going to blog for your organization, you can’t do it half-heartedly. You must involve yourself in it with drive, knowledge, time commitment and the right tools. Plainly said, either do it well or don’t do it all.

Effective blogging only works if the following conditions are met. Sure, you can still blog without meeting these conditions, but you’re going to have a hard time convincing people to spend their time reading it.

Set Aside the Time and Have the Drive

Blogging is a time investment. You have to spend time each week thinking of new topics, areas of discussion and ways to innovate. Like all investments in life, this involves commitment. If you’re not committed deep down to a truly effective blog that provides valuable insight and knowledge, you’re going to quickly find yourself wasting time.

There are literally millions of blogs out there. Granted, many of these blogs contain little, it still goes to show that blogging has gained a massive following. People want to blog. They want to blog about everything.

Your task is to find a specific and focused area to shine some light on. Think about blogging as a business. Right now, the barrier to entry is fairly low. You need very little technical knowledge to get started – just some ideas and at least an initial burst of energy. Clearly, the market is saturated. What would a business do in these circumstances? Diversify. Find a niche. You need to focus your blog on core areas that are close to what you’re good at. Do you know the ins and outs of cleaning cars? Start there. Then expand.

Know What You Are Talking About

This goes without saying that you should generally understand the topic you’re blogging about. When you start going into areas that you don’t really understand, you won’t know where to begin, won’t know where to drive the discussion and you’ll ultimately find it was a mistake.

Instead, start with an area that you consider yourself an expert in. People are interested in knowledge and understanding things. They don’t want a layperson to explain things to them.

Blogging is also a good learning environment for you. As you delve into it, you’ll find new areas of your focus that you never before considered. This is what blogging is all about. However, make sure you have a core area of expertise.

Read the Blogosphere

You can’t just write – you have to read as well. Find other blogs related to yours and follow the good ones religiously. You’ll pick up new bits of information, learn to hone in on new blogging skills and you can make great connections. How can you make connections? Comment on the blogs you read. Provide your insight as it relates to the topic of discussion.

Blogging is about creating a discussion. It’s not a one way street.

Have the Right Tools

While you don’t need to be too technologically capable, you still need the right equipment in order to blog effectively and efficiently. A blogging platform such as WordPress, Blogger or even MyMediaRoom can help get you on the right road.

These tools enable you to customize the look and feel of your blog, maintain posts and manage reader comments.

A restaurant wouldn’t open without a good oven. Why would you open your blog without a good way to publish?

Get Buy-in

If you’re part of a multi-person company, you need to get buy-in for your blog. Whether it’s partners, executives or employees, it’s essential that they accept and acknowledge the blog. Their support can validate what you’re doing and provide added incentive to keep going. Even more, you can encourage them to create and publish posts.

Have Solid Writing Skills

This is the most dreaded part for many people, but good blogging means good writing. If you don’t have the skills to form proper sentences and eliminate glaring grammar errors, take the time to improve your writing.

Exceptional writing goes beyond this. You must be able to express your thoughts in a coherent and convincing manner. Understand the essence of word choice, metaphors, examples, lists, sentence length and other devices from the literary toolset.

Your writing can improve as you blog, but you need to at least have a basic foundation in conveying thoughts on paper (or computer screens in this case).