Blogging About Blogging – Part II
In Part One of Blogging About Blogging, we gave you a summary of good reasons to start a corporate blog. Now we’re going to give you some practical tips on actually starting one based on our own recent experience. If you’ve decided that blogging is right for you, read on…
Get the Right Software
While it’s possible to build your own blogging system, there are several ready-made and well-established publishing systems already available. These systems have sizeable communities of users from whom you can get support and add-ons. Why waste time and money building your own, when there are out-of-the-box solutions that are reasonably easy to install and customize? WordPress and MovableType are two popular and robust options. (Both are free for personal use, although Movable Type requires a fee for commercial uses.)
Also, even though we strongly recommend it, you don’t have to set up a blog on your own web site. There are web sites that provide space for you to start a blog, sometimes for free. These sites don’t require you to install software; it’s already done for you. Blogger is one example.
Spam: It’s not Just for Email Anymore.
If your blog becomes popular, expect to get at least a few spam comments on a regular basis. Blog spam is just like email spam—it can and will contain just about anything. You’ll want to do all you can to prevent it from appearing on your site.
Systems like WordPress and MoveableType usually provide basic filters against spam. Adding a CAPTCHA feature to your comment form will also reduce spam comments. Take advantage of these tools, but remember that you’ll still need to be watchful. In addition, blogging software usually gives you the option to moderate all comments before they’re posted. That gives you a lot of control. Just make sure you moderate often to ensure that non-spam comments get posted in a timely manner. People will be turned off if their comments don’t appear within at least a few hours.
Promote. Promote. Promote.
One more thing you’ll want to do after you’ve got your blog up and running is to make sure to promote it. Add a link to it somewhere on your home page and/or in your site’s main navigation links. Add your blog to Technorati (if they don’t find it first). Make sure you’ve got an RSS web feed. Also, think about adding built-in submission buttons for sites like del.icio.us and Digg.
Another good idea is to include excerpts from your latest posts on your home page, like we did on itexgroup.com. Doing so is a moderately easy task of setting up the home page to parse the blog’s RSS feed and display the latest posts. Any web site administrator worth their salt will be able to do it. If you can find room for it, it will not only keep your web site lively, but will get more people reading the blog and participating in a new way of communication with you and your company.
Founder and
president of IT Exchange Group, Dana Toland oversees conference programs and services, as well as operations. Under Dana's
leadership, IT Exchange Group has evolved into a premier strategic marketing and meeting planning company primarily serving
companies in the IT industry. She has over fourteen years of experience in event marketing and operations, and was previously
employed by Daratech, Inc. and Relocation Resources International.