WHAT’S A GOOD WAY TO START A BLOG?

I get asked this question from time to time so I thought it might be a good way to start this entry.

Firstly…what is a blog?

According to Wikipedia (www.Wikipedia.org): A blog (a contraction of the term “Web log”) is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.”

On Blogger.com (which is where I maintain some of my own blogs) (http://www.blogger.com/) we find : “A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.”

But then, check what Daily Blog Tips (http://www.dailyblogtips.com/) has to say: “The main misconception regarding the definition of blogs comes from people that associate blogs with their content. More specifically from people that associate blogs with the content from one particular type of blog: personal blogs. In other words, those people think that blogs are online diaries where people share their opinions, ramblings and personal events. “

This last opinion seems to fly in the face of the the second, and perhaps even the first.

The fact is, there is no formal or precise definition of a blog beyond the face that it’s name is derived from “Web Log”.

What this means to you is that your blog can be about anything. Are blogs a necessary part of your business? No. Can they be useful? Sure! A blog is a quick way of sharing a thought or opinion and engaging in a dialogue with others. The dialogue can be on your own or someone else’s blogs. In fact there are people who only write articles and comments on other blogs and don’t even own a blog of their own.

Blogging, along with other social media tools and strategies can help with marketing your product or services, particularly if you can discuss what you do, how you do it and how others can benefit. I’m not suggesting you give away your trade secrets, but if you can give away a little, people will remember and may come back for more.

To some degree (and this is strictly my opinion), blogging for your business is an evolutionary step beyond free calendars and refrigerator magnets with “to do lists” on them. The idea is to get your brand in front of people often enough that your will be the first thing they think of when they need a service you provide.

Unlike giveaways such as pens or calendars (which do, I hasten to add, serve a very useful purpose), a blog allows you to refresh content periodically. People can browse at their leisure and under no duress (perceived or otherwise). Unlike spam or junk mail, it’s non-intrusive and, if someone has an opinion, they can comment right there and then.

Blogging is interactive. Even a negative comment means that someone took the time to write it and that’s someone who cares enough to follow up with…
Alright, I’ve wandered completely off-topic as always…well, perhaps not quite. If you want to start blogging, a good place to start is by looking at other blogs in similar subject areas. There are millions to choose from.

You don’t have to write daily or even weekly — it’s your blog, so it’s up to you, but do set a schedule so that regular visitors know when to expect an update. If you have an idea for more than one article, write them all and save them somewhere for those days you can’t think of what to write about.
Things that seem to be popular:

• Short articles
• Quizzes
• “Top 10″ lists
• Tips and “how to” articles
• Inside information (the legal kind)
• (Industry) Gossip

People love humor and intimacy. I always advise new writers to write conversationally. You’re not writing a memo or a legal brief, but do check spelling and grammar. I’d advise writing your articles in a word processor and then “pasting” it into the blog — browsers sometimes crash for no reason…and the spellchecker is always handy.

Many bloggers are more than happy for you to “reblog” (repost) their articles. Just be sure to ask first and credit them (and link back to their blogs). It’s a very big compliment to have your blog reposted.

Blogging does take a little commitment, a little effort, but with practice and patience can be tremendous fun and very rewarding.

Mind Mapping in Marketing Part II (Seeing the Wood Through the Trees)

In part I you started gathering thoughts about marketing. What you hopefully ended up with were a lot sticky notes, each with a thought, some connected and others that just "popped" into your head.

Great work!

Now we begin sorting out the chaos. The final goal will be to get all your thoughts somewhat categorized. This will give you an idea of what each "category" involves. The next phase will then further filter each of these categories, set goals, determine what resources we’re going to need…

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Start grouping your sticky notes together in fairly broad categories. You can tentatively label these as they become apparent. Also, you’ll probably find that a sticky may fit into more than one category. For this exercise, simply write another sticky with the same thing on it so you can put on in each stack.

Since I’m using marketing as my central theme, some of my thoughts included web site, blog, flyers, advertising, emails, friends, business cards, announcements, hockey, business directories, free stuff, networking group, coffee, free gifts as well as others. I’m using a small list for obvious reasons.

When I organize my collection, I end up with 4 stacks:

Stack 1 : Internet : web site / blog / emails / friends / business directories/ announcements
advertising

Stack 2 : Print : business cards / flyers / announcements / free stuff / free gifts / advertising

Stack 3 : Social : coffee / friends / announcements / networking group

Stack 4 : Everything else (or what was I thinking) : hockey

You may very well have 5,6,7 or more stacks. If you do, consider the question: am I being too "granular"? Is there perhaps a broader category that would cover more than one?

Anything that doesn’t fit into the other categories goes into the "everything else" pile. While this stack may not appear completely relevant at first, the idea came up for a reason. In my case, I’m involved in amateur and professional hockey with a company called Athletes Resource. We hold tournaments and camps each year. When "hockey" popped into my mind, it was probably for a couple of reasons including potential advertising and I have friends who like hockey. So I’ll keep the sticky note and let it "ferment" for a while.

Trust me, your mind is working and as you gather your categories, you will think of things to add.

The final part of this section will be to flesh out some of your thoughts. On the back (or front if there’s space) of each stick, put down additional thought and questions for that subject.

For example, let’s take blog. I could write on this one: set up (how?), advertise, subject, how often? You get the idea. You could, if you wanted, start a separate stack of sticky notes for each of these. I’m advising against that, not just for your sanity and the environment, but because we don’t want to get bogged down in minutiae.

See you in part III.