Corporate Blog Writing Etiquette
This post originally appeared here in the spring of 2007 but the lessons still apply to those about to embark along the corporate blog path. We’re posting it again in case you missed it because the post consistently attracts visitors to our site suggesting its still of interest to you, our audience. Here are 10 tips to bear in mind when blogging for business.
1. Keep entries to one page or less - a blog entry should be short and to the point.
2. Blogs are intended as on-line logs or journals and are more informal than other marketing mediums so write accordingly.
3. Use simple terms - don’t include jargon or abbreviations unless you are sure your audience will understand otherwise it will simply put them off.
4. Don’t use your blog as a forum to attempt to promote or sell - its not appropriate.
5. It is generally accepted in the blogosphere that you can quote from another blog as long as you state your source and link back to it.
6. Remember to add value. Think about who your intended audience is and write posts that are informative - share useful links to cool sites and on-line services.
7. Emoticons may be okay for a personal blog but in a corporate one they look unprofessional. Unless your target audience is the under 20 consumer crowd then its best to avoid using emoticons at all.
8. Its good to include video clips, images and podcasts.
9. Don’t use fonts that are too large or hard to read and be sparing with capitals (no need to yell!).
10. When you include links to other web pages, always remember to check that your links work before publishing your blog article (there’s nothing worse than clicking on a link in anticipation only to find that it doesn’t link take you where its supposed to).
September 9th, 2008 at 9:55 am
I think another important point is to keep the blog up-to-date. So posting with a certain frequency is vital for any blog.
I’ve seen a lot of corporate blogs that did very well in the first 2 - 3 months, but after that they just died… The customers remained irritated. Frequent posting does not mean that you have to post every day! 3 Post per week already work… it’s just important that posting happens frequently. Do not post all your 3 articles the same day!
November 1st, 2008 at 11:28 am
[...] Listen out for this week’s session where Merlin follows up on pinpointing your blog passion with setting expectations. He points out that it is extremely important to set expectations regarding your blog so that you can work to achieve them consistently. These include: how often you blog, whether you will encourage interaction, style of content (audio, video, written). If you don’t set appropriate guidelines and goals for your blog you are less likely to achieve them and your message will become diluted. Check out our previous post on corporate blog writing etiquette. [...]