In my last posts, I covered a few basic reasons why small businesses should blog as well as some mistakes that small businesses can make when starting to blog.  (If you’re not convinced, get in touch and we can chat more about it.)  Today, I want to riff a little on how small businesses can blog.  To start, I think it’s important that I share this little snippet that I ran across:

Successful blogging takes discipline.
Successful blogging takes practice.
Successful blogging takes planning.
Successful blogging takes skill.
Successful blogging takes style.
Successful blogging takes knowledge.
Successful blogging takes passion.
Successful blogging takes commitment.
Successful blogging takes vision.

While I think that a lot of this is redundant, I certainly feel that most of it holds true.  For your small business to have an effective blog (one that delivers a solid return on investment and generates readership from the types of people that you’re trying to reach), it’s important that you plan and develop a vision for what you hope your blog will accomplish.

When I work with clients on implementing their small business or corporate blog, we focus first on the type of customer they wish to reach then on the types of content they hope to share.  Next, we see how both correlate with key words that users may be searching.  By developing a key word strategy, you can help your small business with SEO (search engine optimization) and better keep your blog on message.

When it comes to style, it’s important that your blog mesh with your message and the overall image of your business.  If you sell sporting goods and have photos of flowers on your blog titled “Big Dog Advice”, then you have an image problem.  Take a look at the latest from author Seth Godin, “Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?”

Discipline is key in your small business blog.  When you develop a reader base, it’s important that you meet their expectations by delivering timely information on a regular basis.  Intero Design Group helps companies set up blogs with scheduled posts and establish norms and systems within your organization (whether a one man show or 100 employees from coast to coast).  When you get in to a good groove, keeping your blog fresh shouldn’t take long and can result in a really positive set of information that you can share with your readers.

The last things you need to consider in your foray in to small business blogging is readership, measurability and analytics.  How many people are finding your blog?  What terms are they using to find you?  Once there, how long do they stay and how many pages do they read?  All of this can be used to measure overall effectiveness and return on investment.  I know I often harp on this subject, but without these types of indicators, you could be writing for yourself.  We call that a journal, not a blog.  At Intero Design Group, we use a multitude of statistical suites including Google Analytics, Webalizer, server logs and more.

In closing, there are tons of resources online - just Google “small business blogging”.  Some good places to start are this article from Business Week and this brief overview from About.com.  If you need a little guidance on the technicalities, considering consulting an expert.

That aside, you now have everything you need to know about getting your business started with its own blog presence!  Just remember, before you throw out a blog, make sure you’ve got the right kind of message, image and team in place to best represent your organization.

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