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Is a business blog right for me? Will I be able to achieve my blogging objectives?
If you’re asking yourself these questions, there’s a simple way to find out – a simple way to prepare yourself for becoming a blogger. Here it is -
Read blogs and leave comments.
This is so important, I’m almost to the point of requiring clients to do this before taking them on for a business blog assignment. Reading and commenting on blogs will enable you to -
- Learn how to find blogs in your areas of interest
- Learn how RSS and feed readers work
- Learn who the influential bloggers are in your niche
- Get a feel for the style of blog writing and commenting
- Learn the various types of blog posts and what would work for you
- Connect with bloggers and build a network before you start – what an advantage!
- Learn what the various design elements of a blog are and what they are for
- Get a handle on how much time and effort it will take building a community of readers
- Learn what you like and don’t like in blog design and content
Of course you won’t learn everything, but you’ll learn enough to get started and you’ll learn it better than you would in a classroom, consult session, or from a book or website.
Not sure where to start? Give me a shout, tell me a little about your business, and I’ll be happy to point you to a few blogs that should be of interest.
If you really want to understand business blogging, the best way is to dive right in.
How about you? If you have a blog, how did you prepare?
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I’m tellin’ ya Brad, this point is so important that if they don’t do it, I’d tell ‘em, “Come back when you do!” So many folks want to get their blogs going, yet have no clue whatsoever about what it’s all about. And I’m speakin’ from experience, here.
In fact, that’s exactly what started me blogging in the first place – to “find out what this blogging thing was all about”!
Robert Hruzeks last blog post..View From the Top
Hi Robert, Thank you for validating my sense of how important this is. So many mistakes and false starts can be avoided by doing just a little bit of homework.
Brad Shorrs last blog post..How to Prepare Yourself for Launching a Business Blog
Looking back, though I didn’t know it at the time, I think I prepared for blogging by doing a PhD. They’ve got a lot in common, such as:
- You’ll never really know exactly what it entails until you’ve done it.
- It’s going to be much, much harder work than you think it’s going to be. Why do you suppose so many PhDs and blogs are abandoned after an enthusiastic start?
- However, both can be a source of tremendous satisfaction if you’re passionate about a topic.
- You do need to master some basic research skills before you start writing. For my PhD it was knowing who were the big players in the field, understanding which bibliographies to use to track down the relevant scholarship and using concordances to target particular areas. In the blogosphere, as you point out, Brad, it’s all about understanding things like RSS and knowing which bloggers you can’t afford to ignore.
- For me, both have enhanced my career, but the benefits to my wallet aren’t necessarily immediately apparent. Demonstrating my expertise is a long game.
- Few PhDs end up going in the direction their authors set out on at the start. Expect your blog to do the same – you’ll undoubtedly end up blogging about stuff you’d not even considered before.
- Both can be very lonely ways to pass the time. To this day, not a single friend or family member understands what my PhD was about. Similarly few of them are remotely interested in my rants on the finer points of the English language on my blog.
- But both can also be a great way to meet new people with shared interests. When I was doing my PhD I was privileged to work with the top brains in my field. Likewise, through my blog I’ve been privileged to interact with some wonderful peers in the virtual world – you included, Brad.
- PhDs, by definition, must contain original thinking. Likewise, don’t start a blog unless you’ve got something original to say. “Original” doesn’t have to mean out-of-this-world, never-been-thought-of-before ideas (if it did, about one PhD a year would be written). It might be a new way of looking at a topic or a synthesis of current views, but either way it should add something of value to what’s out there.
- You can’t write a PhD in isolation – nor a blog. Indeed, interacting with other thinkers and writers in your field is your best source of ideas. Just as a footnote in a scholarly journal can set off a whole new train of research, so several of my posts have started life as a comment on another blog.
- It’s amazing how generous other bloggers can be. As with scholars, you’ll generally find it’s the successful ones who are most willing to give you their time and attention (yes, that’s you again, Brad).
- Finally, for me, my blog gives me an outlet for my personal obsession with the meaning of words – which is pretty much what my PhD on Old English poetry was about, too.
Clare Lynchs last blog post..Apostrophe rule: 100s or 100’s?
Hi Clare, What a wonderful connection you make between blogging and a PhD. It’s a shame to waste this on a comment – you should turn it into a post. Anyway, I appreciate the kind words and keen insights. I especially like what you say about finding people with similar interests. Like you, most of my friends and family are less than enthusiastic about my enthusiasm for words, language – to say nothing of content optimization technique.
Point is, online we can find people whose enthusiasms converge, which allows us to broaden and deepen our learning and friendships. The first time I saw your blog, I thought, My goodness! There really is someone else in the world who thinks this stuff is as interesting as I do! That’s a nice feeling and makes all the blogging worthwhile, don’t you think?
Brad Shorrs last blog post..How to Prepare Yourself for Launching a Business Blog
Thanks, Brad – it did cross my mind to just post it to my blog, and I might just do that. It would, in itself, be a good illustration of one of my points!
Clare Lynchs last blog post..Apostrophe rule: 100s or 100’s?
Good advice Brad.
Fred H Schlegels last blog post..Reality Check – -Have You Out-Innovated Your Customers?
This is a great article! I think it’s a good idea, too, to start with a free blog. If you love it and want to stick with it, you can always move over to your own domain with more bells and whistles after you’ve gotten the hang of it – and your readers will follow you, so you’re not starting over from scratch.
But I think you’re right – it’s something you learn hands on, as you go. You’ll learn what type of posts resonate by studying the ones that’ve gotten good responses in the past… so a lot of it is finding your voice and readership and expanding as you go – and really, no one can give you a definite road map, because the landscape is ever-changing and hopefully you’re growing with it.
I loved Clare’s comment above, too.
Merrys last blog post..How Thought Leadership From Harvard Applies to Small Business
I’ve a reader months ago that shares funny comments, useful suggestions and even offers points I’ve left out in my posts. When I check other blogs I always see his comments – he has beaten me at my own game and this fellow has no blog to promote!
Not for long. I’ve encouraged him to start blogging as he enjoys the interaction anyway. He wants to, but the wife – a mom blogger – has her doubts. But I keep a constant pressure on him. For his wife – the gentlest plea, suggestion to give my blog commenter extraordinaire the green light to start blogging himself.
And he did received the go signal – two weeks ago. A first post is generally a cry in the wilderness for a newbie blogger. But his first baby step anything but that. He’s a huge hit. All of us who have benefited from his warmth and wit were all there to give support. And we still do. We feel we have a stake in his blog. We’re like his surrogate blog fathers!
jan geronimos last blog post..Here’s Why I Don’t Need to be an Influential Blogger
Jan, I’m intrigued – can you give us a link to his blog?
Clare Lynchs last blog post..Twelve ways my PhD prepared me for blogging
Hi Jan – I’m with Clare … who is this blogger?
Hi Merry, If someone does start blogging on a free domain, I wouldn’t stick with it too long. Converting is a bit of a pain in terms of subscription transfer and link rebuilding. But it is amazingly easy to get started on a platform like Blogger, and as you say, you can’t beat “free”!
Brad Shorrs last blog post..How to Prepare Yourself for Launching a Business Blog
Brad,
Business blogging is a form of communication, and in order to perform any form of communication in an effective manner, understanding things from the intended recipient of the communication in question (who, in the case of blogging, often communicate back in an interactive fashion) is absolutely imperative.
Through the process of reading other blogs, those who intend to start their own business blog not only about the way things work in the blogosphere (as you elaborate on in your discussion), they also get to experience life from the perspective of the intended recipient of their communication – the reader. They will get to experience first hand which features add value for the reader and which features do not.
The best way to understand your customers (or communication recipients) is to become one of them.
Andrews last blog post..Will good intentions wither in tough times?
Andrew, Well said. One of the most instructive parts of reading blogs is indeed reading the comments on other blogs. That’s also a great way to build a network and discover people with similar interests, which is a great benefit in and of itself.
Good advice, particularly about reading other existing blogs. You wouldn’t write a novel without reading a book, and businesses should apply the same principals to blogging.
Many people don’t know the ins and outs of blogging and so it is essential that before embarking upon any sort of campaign those responsible for starting up a blog understand at least the basics of the practice.
True, Danielle. I’ve never met an accomplished writer who was not a voracious reader.