Business Blog Savvy: Avoiding the 8 Pitfalls of Do-It-Yourself Blogging

Business Blog Savvy: Avoiding the 8 Pitfalls of Do-It-Yourself Blogging
© 2006, By Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D. and Denise Wakeman, The Blog Squad

You can pat yourself on the back if you're one of the thousands of small business professionals that have set up a blog to communicate with your potential clients. Or, maybe you haven't started your business blog yet, but intend to. Take note now so you can avoid some of the consequences of do-it-yourself blogging.

You've heard all the hype, listened to a few podcasts and teleseminars, and finally sorted out for yourself how blogging can really work for your targeted niche of readers and potential clients.  You've set up your business blog.

Now, you may be asking yourself, "If I'm so smart at my business, why do I have a dumb do-nothing blog?"

Here are a few of the pitfalls of creating your blog without any guidance from blogging experts:

1. You don't know how to use your blogging software, yet you expect to look like an expert and build credibility. How could you know? Blogs haven't been around that long, and the blogging software is continually being upgraded. You need to learn how to use your blog features that increase your findability on the Internet and readership. For example, you need to regularly use trackback, pinging, and permalinks features.

2. You are writing in a vacuum, without knowing what questions your clients want answered. You haven't done any keyword research, or asked your current clients what they'd like to read. Even worse, you under the impression that a blog should be like an online diary. You are writing about your personal life and details, detracting from the on-target, focused purpose of your blog as a business building tool.

3. You haven't researched other blogs in your field, or spent any time on them, leaving comments. You need to get out there and raise your hand in the blogosphere, so people will know you're there. You also need to know what's going on in your field.

4. You haven't put a subscription form on your blog, and you don't understand the whole RSS feed thingy. Your readers can't find you or know when you have updated your blog.

5. You haven't put any images on your blog and your blog doesn't look as neat and tidy as your business is. It doesn't reflect your business image or brand.

6. You haven't put any content-appropriate ads on your blog, that don't distract from your own products. Your blog has a non-professional, non-business look and feel to it.

7. You haven't used categories for your blog posts and your readers are confused about wide-ranging subjects you write about. What is your core message? What is the focus of your blog? And important question you must answer for your readers: What's in your blog for them?

8. You haven't written anything for a month. When you've got a blog that has lack-luster traffic, your enthusiasm for writing begins to wane. Why bother posting, if no one is reading your words of wisdom? Then your blog slips even further, and begins to look like a ghost town. Worse, it's still up on the Web, and people will find you and decide you maybe don't care, went out of business, or changed your mind.

Here's what is promised by having a blog:

• Search engines will find you better - website traffic galore
• Instant credibility in your area of expertise
• A way to communicate with people interested in your field
• Dialogue through comments with potential clients
• Increased sales of your products, whether tangible goods, informational products, or services

How could you possibly know the most effective blogging strategies and tactics without learning and guidance by experts? Sure, blogs are for everyone and the software makes it easy and cheap for anyone to start a blog. But a professional business blog that drives traffic and gets clients must be optimized correctly and treated as a valuable marketing strategy.

Here are some solutions:

1. Study the professional business blogs in the blogosphere and model their strategies.
2. Buy an ebook on how to set up and optimize a professional business blog
3. Take an advanced course in blogging (not one that just tells you how to get a free account and set it up, but one to explain how to optimize for business.)
4. Hire a team of professional blog experts to coach you in using your blog for your business.
5. Hire a business blog consultant team to help you tweak your blog, or do an extreme makeover
6. Delete your blog and start all over again

Blogs are an effective and powerful marketing tool for businesses of all sizes and types.  Like any tool, though, you need to know how to use it correctly to maximize your results.

*** This article may be reprinted as long as the copyright is kept in tact along with this information about the authors. ***

About Your Blogging Partners - The Blog Squad
As the The Blog Squad, Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman have teamed up to work with professionals to maximize their marketing strategies by implementing blogs, ezines and ecommerce tactics.  They have co-authored "Build a Better Blog: The Ultimate Guide for Boosting Your Business with a Professional Blog", "Confessions of a Reluctant Blogger: From Boring to Brilliant in 30 Days" and "Secrets of Successful Ezines: A Guide to Writing and Publishing an Ezine that Gets Results."   Take The Blog Squad's free assessment to find out if you're ready for a business blog.

Comments

[Nathalie]

I have read a lot of things from you and other people and there is something I still don't catch:

Why feed subscription is so important for you (see pitfall #4)? Why, why, why?

I read (and people around me who are users of blogs tell me the same thing...bon (means ok), they are french but I think there is no cultural bias on this topic) that a very little few people use/like using feedstuff!

So I'd rather advice people to have a database system (like a shopping cart) for Newsletter subscritpion. The Newsletter would be an week-period (or a month period, it depends on the posting frequency)overview of the posts published. I think that your readers would be very happy with you to do the work for them. And it's up to you to write something appealing in the newsletter to make the guy want to read more on your blog.

As usual give people some secret tips to prompt them to subscribe.

What do you think about that?
Nathalie

[Patsi Krakoff]

Thanks Nathalie, for raising this question. We advise our blogging clients to put a subscription form on their blog so readers will get an email notification whenever they post a new article. But people like to get their blogs in several different ways. It is up to you to make it easy for them. Adding a "My Yahoo", Bloglines, or Feedburner option means they don't have to search the web to see if and when you write on your blog. These systems (RSS feeds) make it easy for people to get a notice you have posted, then they can go read what's on your blog.
Yes, only a few people have adopted RSS newsreaders, but why would you not give those 12-15% of your readers this opportunity to stay abreast of your blog posts? To not to so, is like saying, sorry, I'm not going to make it easy for you to read my blog posts.
Yes, sending out an email newsletter to advise readers that there is new content on the blog is a good idea. Do that. AND add the RSS feeds options and a subscription option from Feedblitz. It's free, it's easy, there is no reason to not do it.
You don't have to understand how these things work in order to do them and offer them to your readers.
Merci pour votre participation sur notre blog...et pardon... my keyboard isn't as fluent in French as I am. I lived 18 years in Paris and am always tres content to connect with les francaises!