Don’t Be a Blogging Boo Boo

 By Amanda Bala

Have you been thinking about starting a blog for your company?  Or do you have a blog going, but it has not really taken off? Well, there are some very simple reasons that blogs do not succeed.  Here are some things to avoid when starting a new blog for your company.

Too much of a hard sell.  Your blog should not be a sales pitch.  It’s okay to talk about your business and strategies in your blog.  However, nothing will make a reader turn away faster than, “You must act now to take advantage of this one time offer”.  Blog readers do not want to be sold.  They want to be entertained and informed.

TMPI (Too Much Personal Information).  While you want to put the “you” into your blog, you need to be careful not to put too much of the “you” into your blog.  You want your blog to reflect your personality, but you do not want it to be a diary of your every day happenings.  Take your quirks and the interesting things that are happening in your business and incorporate those into your blog.  However, steer clear of any information that is too personal in nature. 

Not enough posts.  While you do not want your blog to be a diary of day to day happenings, you must also watch the pitfall of not posting often enough.  One to two posts a week is a great guideline.  Nothing looks worse than logging onto a blog and seeing that nothing has been posted for a month.  That signals to readers that you do not have enough time or interest in keeping up your blog.  That can create a poor reflection of you and your business.  If you are at a loss for original work to post, repost another blog article that you have found insightful or interesting.  Give credit to that blogger and let them know you used their work.  They may even return the favor.

Surrendering too fast.  Blogging is not always easy.  People tend to get discouraged because they are not seeing the results they want quickly enough.  It may take three to six months before you begin to see followers or comments on a regular basis.  Even then, it may not be the amount of traffic that you were hoping for.  However, the key is sticking with it.  If you are doing everything right, people will find you. 

Boring content.  Blog readers are looking to be entertained.  There are millions of blogs out there, so you have to captivate your audience and make them want to come back for more.  You do not need to shock or be wild in your content.  However, you want to be consistent and put stuff out there that can help people or generate some buzz.

Failing to promote your blog.  So, you have a fantastic blog.  The content is great, you are posting on a weekly basis, and all the pieces are in place.  Still, you are not getting followers.  What is going on?  Maybe you have failed with the most important step… getting your blog out there!  There are many ways to do this.  You can submit your blog to RSS feed directories, submit your blog to a blog directory, join a blog carnival or submit random blog entries to sites like www.digg.com.

The ultimate goal when blogging is to get people reading and bring them and prospective clients to you.  Be sure that your blog is an extension of you and all the wonderful things that you will bring to those clients!

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