'Don’t Make Your Blog A Slog!'? - Guest Post by John McGrann

John McGrann of Drive Social Media

Everybody’s doing it or threatening to do it. Some are personal blogs and some are written about interests or hobbies. These are relatively straight forward and it’s easier to write about things we like  so much. Business blogging tends to be dreaded a little more. It shouldn’t be. It’s time to take a more relaxed view. Don’t make you’re blog a slog.

There are five areas to address to overcome any anxiety:
• Fundamentals of business blogging
• Getting Started
• Using a blogging platform
• Attracting followers
• Business benefits of blogging

It’s useful to understand some of the fundamentals around business blogging. These are best highlighted in answering a number of questions:

• Can it be used as a marketing tool?
• Are there any personal benefits?
• Who is my audience?
• Is it cost effective?
• What’s the difference between a website and a blog?
• What is a blog?
• Does the Google search engine like blogs?
• What are the common mistakes of business blogging?
• Any good tips?

We’ll try to find answers to these questions in my next blog post.

The first step is always the hardest. So how do we get started? Is there any help available? What are those first few steps? For many people the biggest issue is what to blog about. We’ll go into more details later. But for now writing about your expertise or those subjects you are passionate about will inspire you more. Tell great stories – we all love story tellers. Also try to answer those issues that commonly arise from customers and employees for example. More later...

Do you need to be a geek to set up your blog? I’ve set up a few blogs at Blogger.com – a popular blogging platform. The answer is no. You can set up a nice design with images, embedded videos and social media links without any technical skills. More later...

Once we have a blog set up and we are posting content how do we get people to follow our regular posts? It’s all about creating good content, interaction with other bloggers, leveraging your connections on social media sites and utilising specialist blog search engines. More later...

Is it all worth the time and effort? As a social media marketing tool business blogging can add value is several ways. The benefits come from the interaction with stakeholders, building trust with prospective buyers, search engine optimisation and sharing with your network. More later...

We’ll have a look in more detail at all five areas to address to overcome any anxiety business blogging in the next few posts.

Would you like to be known as a thought leader in your industry?

A simple yes or no please