10 Rules of Business Blogging

Read a great post from SEO 2.0 today which I though I would share. What he is saying is good and people who are considering writing a business blog should take heed. Here are his 10 rules of business blogging:

1. Use your real name
If you want anybody to take you seriously you have to use your real name for your blog.

2. Disclose what company you are working for and what exactly you do there
Do not blog under false pretenses, disclose from the start who you are, whom you work for or who pays you, why you blog, what your exact position is, it’s a big difference whether you’re from the PR department or you’re the CEO.

3. Blog yourself
Do not use ghostwriting under your name. If you have not enough time do not blog. Blog for yourself in your own name not for your company, people will cite you and not the company. Above all be yourself, not solely a CEO, entrepreneur, engineer or consultant. Make people feel that you’re there as a person. Shoot pictures of your cat or dog. Do not cover your family though, that might be even dangerous.

4. Do not sell, inform
Do not attempt to sell your products via your blog posts. Inform people. Make your readers aware of them but mainly inform your audience on the issues of your trade or industry, not solely your own business.

5. Do not “blog” press releases, tell stories
Well, this is kind of evident although many people will do it anyways. Press releases are for the press, blogs are your interface to social media. You might even employ social media press releases but keep your blog clean.

6. Engage your audience
Blogs are defined by the conversations of real people. It’s about dialogue. Again, if you do not have the time to reply to comments, do not blog. If you start a monologue your business blog will fail.

7. Use casual language not corporate newspeak
Everybody hates corporate newspeak. Also many people do not even understand the meaning of it. Use normal casual language, but do not swear or ridicule yourself too much. Wearing oversize sombreros is OK though.

8. Do not demean others, especially competitors, but deal with criticism and other issues of your company
Positivity and honesty is key for a successful blog, even more for a business blog as people are wary of being lied to by corporate or business entities. So do not tell people how bad your competitors are or the rest of the world. Also deal honestly with issues, especially criticism regarding your work and company. Do not feed the troll though. React if it’s not slander. For the latter call your lawyers, but do not call your lawyers in cases of decent criticism!

9. Do not make your employees vote you up
Well, ever wondered why Apple stories are daily on the Digg frontpage? Well, voting up your company’s blog is vote fraud on social media. If you have more than 5 - 10 employees you should forbid it altogether.

10. Do not hide facts when you describe something
Telling only half the truth is like lying on blgs and social media. People will tell you anyways. So try to anticipate what others think and take a proactive stance. Show them your unique selling proposition like saying “we’re the first to introduce these features”.