There were many readings for Tuesday so I am just going to comment on a few!
Top 5 Cooperate Blogging Mistakes
I really enjoyed this post on the top 5 cooperate blogging mistakes by David Meerman Scott. I think he is correct that many people who have just started blogging for their company don’t know much about blogging and begin rambling on about their products. This is why company’s have websites. If a customer wants to know about a product, he or she will go there. If the customer wants to read your thoughts or opinions, he or she should be able to find them easily on your blog.
The other interesting point Scott made was on the importance of the ‘About Me’ page. These pages are vital because they are the one place a blogger can go to find information on an author. They should be professional and informative, and maybe include a photo.
50 Ways to Take Your Blog to the Next Level
Here are the points I think are most important from this article by Chris Brogan.
#5 Up the ante on delivering original material. Get outside the echo chamber. Writing a me-too blog isn’t the way to build your blog to the levels you seek to attain.
#11 Get your own unique URL. (This will help people remember you and find you easily online!)
#16 Is your layout readable? (Needs to be easy to navigate and find information. Not everyone is a blogging professional!)
#23 Link (This is one of the most important things I have learned! Give credit where credit is due and make it easy for your readers to find articles you talk about )
#48 Build relationships with similar blogs
What did I learn?
I think one of the most important things I took away from these readings was blogger relations. The concepts I decided were most important when dealing with blogger relations were being relevant, personalizing, and making it easy and accessible. It is important for bloggers to feel like they can respond to your blogs and interact with you, so give them issues they want to talk about. Also, make it easy for them to do so. No one wants to spend 10 minutes on a page trying to figure out how to respond.
It is also important to have a target audience. Decide what you want to talk about. This does not mean you can only talk about one idea, but you will have more readers if people know what you are likely to talk about. It is also important to get your name out there. Using other social media tools, like Twitter, or listing your blog at the end of your emails will help raise awareness and interest.
