How to Write a Business Blog

Social networking is becoming a more important part of the business world, so it's not surprising that many sales professionals have started blogging. Here's my advice, based... upon my own experience, and from talking to other sales bloggers:

• Remember why you're blogging. Business-oriented blogs are different from the personal blogs that dominate the web. Unless you want lots of angry comments, don't write about politics or religion. (NB: I like angry comments.)
• Target the right prospects. Before you start blogging, have an idea of the type of customers that you want to attract and (even more importantly) what kind of information, commentary and links would be most likely to interest them.
• Schedule time to write. If you're going to post frequently enough to attract readers, set a schedule for posting, and keep to it, even when you don't really feel like it. Hint: always have a couple of posts queued up, so if you miss a day, you're still OK.
• Avoid all marketing hype. If you fill your blog with yada-yada-yada about your company and product, no customer or prospect is going to read past the first sentence. Instead provide how-to information, illuminating anecdotes, and industry news.
• Be controversial but not confrontational. While your blog may have an opinion about an industry issue, it's best to steer clear of words and issues that will annoy potential customers. (NB: It's different for me; I get paid to blog and am not selling anything.)
• Provide useful links. People read blogs partly to find links to other information and web pages that might interest them. Ideally you want your blog to become a portal though which potential customers view your industry or your product category.
• Let your customers know about it. A blog is just a waste of disk space unless prospects know it's there. Promote the blog in all your outbound marketing communications and advertisements. Find ways to draw your target audience to the blog.
• Don't tread on corporate toes. Prospects will naturally believe that every word that appears on the blog reflects your company's official position. Make certain that, whatever you write, it adds, rather than detracts, from your corporate image.