Blogging for a Real Business: Three Strategy Elements (getting started)

A blog can be a high volume magazine (i.e. Huffington post) all the way to one page teaser for a book (Paul Graham's Hackers and Painters). It can also be marketing and promotion content in support of businesses. Technologists use blogs to inform and influence (google, Facebook, YouTube, Craig's list see also Bill Marriott).

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Google main blog: simple and professional image - general interest topics

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There was a trend of CEO blogs where company chiefs delivered a message as the image of the company. The trend ended because keeping up with a blog, making it interesting and relevant is harder than first imagined. It takes dedication and skill to write on a regular basis and produce a flow of interesting articles (specially in one specific topic). [yet US president Obama has an active blog] Once you can write a steady stream of articles you have a tool to deliver a message and shape an image. Image shaping blogs need a clear direction: what, how and when to deliver your message, so a coherent message is clear. Take the opportunity to develop a message strategy. Than develop blog message tactics. If you are new at this don't be affraid to experiment, make changes until you are satisfied. Technology companies produce a huge volume of information but little is in a coherent form, a blog can help here. A blog's linear format helps in keeping the message focused to one topic. The single thread format helps in keeping readers on track with the strategy without being obvious. Even a small loyal readership and casual visitors are a valuable return for most blogs. If you have a clearl message they will come back and stay around.

Print media strategies do not always work for a blog. In the past strategies needed to fit print media limitations (narrow channel / cast) and P/R firm expenses (usually very high). Blogs are much more available to readers but they also compete with a huge amount of other messages on the Internet. This may mean that your first strategy and tactics will change as you experiment. Remember to give your blog strategy a real value. This will help you get over the initial push, to most bloggers starting is the hardest part. If you need to compare a blog to a P/R firm or traditional media you need to be creative. Blogs deliver your messaged differently, they sustain the reader longer and are readily available to anyone. Press releases and regular print articles have much shorter life span, they are not available to anyone. Develop a strategy that will fit the blog format. Focus on the key component of a message: simple image, core message and continuous awareness. Let's look at these intangible aspect and see if a blog can clarify them:

• Simple image promotion with a blog: Image is the first impression you make on someone. It is also the overall "feeling" someone has about your company and product. A clear statement of what your image should be is helpful in guiding the writing and editing in the long term. Google's official blog has simple design. It covers many topics and has a light but professional image. The articles discuss general topics which affect most users and developers. For more in-depth topics there are other places (technical or business) to find information.

• Core message clarification and promotion with a blog: Blogs are excellent tools to clarify a message. Blog content can be short or long, it can cover any topic and readers come in all type from the serious to the curious. Messages are crucial for a business image. Without your own message people get other messages which are usually wrong. Shaping your message is how a company tells its point of view. Marketers and P/R professionals have been shaping images for a long time. Blogs simply make the process easier. Also, at least for now, blogs are more accepted authorities than other forms of media. (this will change)

• Continuous awareness with a blog: Continuous awareness of readers is the best attribute of a blog format. The format gives the reader fresh information in a focused package all the time. Until now only the best run and biggest organizations have been able to deliver a continuous message in a clearly defined format. Now the game has changed, anyone can spend the resources and have his message read. Today we can do the same with one big difference, our information can be tied to many other pieces of information: people like to a big picture and they like when we help them with see how things are connected.

These are basic concepts you can use for defining your blog strategy. Use this and other concepts to think and explain your approach. Also use these ideas to develop your own ideas for article topics, overall blog direction, the approach to get information, all will help in starting with a clear vision on how to proceed. If anyone out there has a blog design plan or want to develop one with me, let me know.

This article topic came from a question the umpteenth time: "why some bloggers are effective while others dribble on?" . Effectiveness in blogging is measured as a wide range of results. In general it means a continuous operation and improvement with time. People who write well and do it for a long period of time are not only good life observers and sharp thinkers, they also write so people want to read more. This means they thought and planned their writing. Sometimes they think about writing more than they actually write. If you approach a blog as serious work you need to develop strategies and tactics. So take time to think and plan. Be clear to others what your writing is saying. Write well and on topic. Change strategies if it makes sense.