One of the biggest questions I’m confronted by attendees at the conferences I speak at, as was the case at jboye08 in Denmark this week, is how do we blog? Or rather, how do we get approval to blog? Okay, to be perfectly frank, the question is more often a comment: “We have no idea how to begin a blog…”

 

Bill Ives is a blogging expert, has been walking-the-walk for years, and is paid to

blog. He offers a number of suggestions for starting corporate blogging:

 

Phase One: Setting up the Blog and Getting it Ready for Prime Time.  Before you start to promote the blog you will want to get it in decent shape. Here is what needs to be done.

 

Ensure the Blogging Strategy is Aligned with Business Strategy. Review the business objectives of the blog and how they fit within your firm’s overall marketing and business strategies.

 

1. Decide on a descriptive name for the blog and write a two sentence description to go along with this name.

2. Pick the content coverage of the blog and consider the types of posts you will write. This can be enhanced and modified as you continue.

3. Write the “about this blog section” which covers your objectives, content coverage and any relevant policy issues.

4. Decide and name the major categories of content, or themes, that will be covered in the blog. Make sure they align with your key words and all the significant key words are covered. You can add more later.

5. Pick the original bloggers. Match expertise with selected themes. This group can be extended later.

 

In fact, Bill has developed an entire action plan that is well worth reading: Sample Action Plan for Business Blogging.

 

For engaging senior executives and management to play a role, I recommend a business case that demonstrates the employees’ need for more direction communications from the top, and highlights winning case study examples from others…

 

KEEP READING:

Bill Ives’ Blogging Consulting Services

Blogging the intranet

Case study: PNM Resources CEO blog

IBM leads corporate blogging pack

Should you blog the intranet?

Study: Intranet blogging on the rise

Blogging policy examples