Ten Tips for Creating Blogs - Part 1 of 2

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Ten Tips for Creating Blogs  - Part 1 of 2
    This month we are featuring our first of a two part series on, "Ten Tips for Creating Blogs." This month as well as next month you will receive a total of ten tips designed to help you create a blog.
    Blogs are growing at a phenomenal rate. There were only 135,000 blogs in 2000, according to Perseus Research Services, and by 2004 there were already more 10 million-including a growing number of CEOs.
    What exactly is a blog?
    A blog is a web log (web log) or Web page comprised of short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically. The content and purpose of blogs can vary. Examples of blogs include a "what's new" page and/or an online journal. Blogs have become so popular that new terms and language has been created around this fast-growing form of communication and expression. The ever-increasing popularity of blogs has resulted in the creation of unique blog terms and language (e.g., words such as blogger, blogging, blognosing, blogorrhea, blogrolling have become common terms among blog users).
    Companies worldwide are using blogs to create direct conversations with their customers by offering a more human connection with their customers and in turn reaching a larger critical mass. By the very nature of blogs you are creating your own open forum. The approach to creating corporate blogs is keeping it simple; straightforward and most importantly keeping it real. There is however a commonsense approach that needs to be discussed. When writing your corporate blog we highly recommend that you avoid divulging any company trade secrets, corporate policies/practices, and products that have not yet been released.
    Corporate executives may be hesitant to even take on the practice of writing and/or contributing to any type of corporate blog for fear of lawsuits or providing unnecessary assistance to competitors. This all or nothing approach clearly is not the answer. A corporate blog can be a fantastic resource to provide a forum for management and executives to discuss their new products, show customers how to use some of the new features and answer questions.
    At TechSplanations , founder and CEO, Bo Elder states, "We regularly post items of interest on our blog page that we believe our clients, and visitors to the site, would be interested in knowing, such as the presence of vulnerabilities in software, or emerging threats and issues. Really, more than anything, it is a way to share with the world nuggets of information that may have some widespread appeal. We also try to very carefully source the information that appears on our blog page. While we think blogs have a place in business, without quality information, they're really nothing more than a diary or a journal."
    According to Doc Searls, a well-known blogger and former public relations executive, describes corporate blogs as free-range publication relations. "Weblogs give companies a way to relate to customers and other members of the marketplace in a truly human way that may be more authoritative than anything public relations can produce," Searls said. "They also give companies a living presence on the Web, rather than just a brochure or a replica in pixels of a headquarters lobby."
    In his most recent article, "10 Best Practices for Corporate Blogs & Wikis ," Nick Wreden, loyalty expert and author of FusionBranding: How to Forge Your Brand for the Future, has studied corporate blogs. Wreden states, "Every company should consider blogs as part of their branding strategy," says Wreden, whose book was named as a "best new business book." By the way for those of you curious about what exactly are Wikis. A Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser.
    In a very noisy world sometimes it is challenging to get your message heard. The world of blogs has created a huge buzz amongst many in the corporate arena. In the past businesses would look too online discussion forums and chat rooms to help promote the launch of a new product. This was an effective means of marketing however sometimes it was hit or miss because businesses using this form of marketing would really have no idea of how large of an audience they were actually reaching.
    With the emergence of blogs, businesses can now target bloggers to spread their message and have a clearer idea of actually how many consumers they are reaching. Companies are enlisting the services of small groups of bloggers to help promote their products by offering them for free to test drive. It's a win-win relationship because the bloggers receive free products; in return they discuss the new products to their captive readers. The businesses providing these free products benefit by reaching a larger group of consumers in a short amount of time. Moreover businesses now have a clear idea of just how large of an audience they are actually reaching by tracking the visitors to a particular blog.
    With the recent acquisition of Blogger by Google and companies such as Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft jumping on the blog bandwagon some feel that the use of Blogs will become commonplace practice in business and technology. It's apparent that blogging is not the only form of exchanging information amongst companies and consumers.
    "Discussion forums are nearly ubiquitous with software and hardware vendors. Some of these companies have learned a valuable lesson: people, who in turn are their customers, are willing to help other people through these discussion forums. Members of the support organizations within these hardware and software companies can monitor the forums, quell the fear, uncertainty and doubt, and pipe up when necessary, while at the same time, allowing for the accumulation of a vast, usually searchable, knowledge base," according to Bo Elder.
    It's uncertain as to why Blogs have become so popular in business or the whether this is simply a fad. One thing is for certain Blogs are a form of content management and companies can never have too much content available for clients and consumers.
    Below are 5 tips for creating, promoting and maintaining your blog(s).
    1. Choose a Topic You Know. Realize that what you post will be available to a wide audience. Decide what information you will or will not be comfortable disclosing.
    2. Know Your Audience. An essential component to the success of your blog is your readers/audience. They provide vital feedback, suggestions and commentary. Although they can be your greatest advocates, often they also will be your harshest critics.
    3. Tool Time. Web log software applications help create, maintain and promote your blog. Many of these applications are free and help streamline the process of creating your blog.
    4. Create Your Blog in Outline Format. Test studies indicate 79 percent of users always scan any new page they came across; whereas only 16 percent of users read a new page word-by-word, according to a study conducted by the Nielson Norman Group. Since market research indicates most people scan a Web page for individual words, visual cues and/or headings, an outline format will allow users a "quick glance" view of your blog, subsequently increasing visitors.
    5. Blog Design Basics. Below are some basics to good blog design:
    a. Easy to read.
    b. Easy to navigate.
    c. Easy to find. Such as search engines.
    d. Consistent layout and design.
    e. Quick to download or fast loading.

    Standalone Tools
    "Standalone tools" are software packages that you install and configure on your own computer. Typically a standalone tool serves just one blogger. Below are some useful standalone blog tools:
    · Movable Type: This is a popular standalone tool, great for creating and maintaining your blog;
    · B2 offers what they call logware - a very sophisticated news/web log tool; and
    · PHP-Nuke: this standalone tool installs on your computer and helps manage blogs.
    · Open source software package called Nucleus (http://nucleuscms.org/). The software is relatively easy to integrate into existing web sites.
    Hosted Sites
    "Hosted sites" are community sites in which you are assigned an account. Hosted sites manage the details of hosting, configuring and other blog maintenance details for you. Hosted sites usually serve multiple bloggers. The following hosted sites are available for FREE:
    · Blogger: a great product for multiple blogs;
    · LiveJournal: this site offers a product that is simple to use; and
    · Xanga: this is cool service that offers free web logs.
    Blog Gadget Tools
    · FoneBlog is a great service from NewBay that allows you to blog from your mobile phone; and
    · Blog from your phone with SMS service, a fantastic capability from TXT Solutions
    · One can follow multiple blogs without having to visit each one of their individual web pages. The aggregator will display new content from monitored pages. NewsGator (http://www.newsgator.com/) is one of these applications
    · Awasu (http://www.awasu.com/) is another aggregator.
    Additional Resources:
    · Read 47 Key Tips from the Worlds Best Bloggers - This is a compendium of bloggers from around the world as they share some of their very best tips.
    · Check out Blog Tips - Central Register This is a fantastic website filled with rich and innovative ideas about the world of blogs.
    · Blogger - Fantastic resource that offers a great service.
    · Reading Facts - If random facts and statistics about reading interest you, this is a great web site to reference.
    · How to Start a Web Log. - Extremely useful article that takes you from beginning to end of creating a blog.
    · NITLE is the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education, a non-profit national consortium supported by the Andrew W. Mellon foundation, and dedicated to helping liberal arts colleges make effective use of technology. NITLE was one of the first academic organizations to take an interest in web logs, and continues to see them as a valuable tool for sharing knowledge.

    Bronson Tang is an associate of EtomicMail www.EtomicMail.com a San Diego-based Corporate Email Protection and Security firm that specializes in researching and developing products that help companies and their employees save time and increase their productivity.

Article Source: http://www.articledirectorylive.com

Bronson Tang is an Channel Sales Director of EtomicMaila San Diego-based Corporate Email Protection and Security firm that specializes in researching and developing products that help companies and their employees save time and increase their productivity.

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