The art of blogging

People keep talking about how you should have a blog on your company website, but they hardly ever explain why. So here goes:

  1. Blogs can give your company a bit more personality, provide a behind-the-scenes peek, make you seem more individual to your web visitors.
  2. You get a chance to air thoughts/opinions or talk about subjects that either aren't directly related to your company, or that you might not be quite ready to bill as the 'company line' - it depends how far you want to take your blog into the realm of the 'personal view'.
  3. Most importantly, blogs can be very good at driving traffic to your website. Especially if they are quoted by other bloggers, who then link back to them - search engines think sites that are well-linked are more trusted, and so you'll come higher up the rankings.
  4. Because you should update them fairly regularly, they help keep your site fresh. New content encourages repeat visitors.
  5. They give visitors to your site a chance to interact, by commenting on what you've written. Sometimes the arguments that go on in the comments are more interesting than the blog post itself!

Here are some questions you might want to ask yourself if you're thinking about having a company blog:

  • Whose blog is it? At tictoc any of the staff can add to the blog - some companies keep it as a personal view from one of their staff, usually someone at the top.
  • What's it for? Sometimes it's about issues that are relevant to your company, sometimes it's about a whole load of other stuff that has no direct relevance to what your company does. Sometimes it's a mixture of both.
  • Who's going to make sure you blog regularly? There's no point having one if it's rarely updated. Make a commitment, and give someone the time and responsibility to make it happen.

And here are some other things to bear in mind:

  • If you use a blogsite for your blog (i.e. blogger or wordpress) your own company site will not get any of the benefit of having a blog. All that traffic will be driven to another site - it won't help your own rankings at all. It's not difficult to get a blog built in to the Content Management System of your own site.
  • Do be a bit careful about the content on your blog. Don't be defamatory, be careful if you're going to be provocative - remember, this reflects on your company, and technically your company could be liable for what's said on it.
  • Know how you're going to deal with comments. Not all comments will be supportive, and you should make a decision about whether to allow comments or not. If you do and someone makes a comment you're not happy with, make sure you respond to it (calmly) rather than ignoring it.