Blogging, the new hot topic in social media can take a lot more time and effort behind the scenes than the average person might think. This is especially if you have aspirations of building your own blog for businesses purposes.

Business bloggers confront different obstacles as opposed to other leisurely bloggers. For instance if you are creating a professional blog, it is obviously going to be used for professional purposes and will be geared toward engaging specific objectives and outcomes.

Business blogs are more often utilized to be marketing building tools and once they become publicly recognized it becomes an open exhibit for all to see your thriving company. Tia Peterson’s article, “8 Things to Do Before Starting a Business Blog,” provides 8 great tips on how to get started building your own business blog.

So let’s dive into these quick tips from Peterson:

1. Figure out WHY you are blogging
• You must ask yourself what goals you are trying to achieve, and set standards in place to let you know when these goals have been met.

2. Figure out your target reader
• Do you have anyone specific in mind that you want to read your blogs? If so you must take time to learn their online habits, the information that they care about and also what will get them talking.

3. Determine your blog marketing strategy
• It is important to figure out how you plan on reaching out to your target audience. You must remember that digital conversations are already in progress, so your options are to join in or simply to start your own, all of which should be included in your marketing plan.

4. Assign ownership to your blog
• There is nothing worse than confusion. To prevent this from occurring it is pertinent that you establish who will be writing the content, managing the community and who will be promoting your blog. Appointing these tasks to individuals should eliminate any confusion.

5. Create an editorial calendar
• It is a great idea to determine what you will be publishing and also when you are going to publish it. According to Peterson, “an editorial calendar is comprised of frequency as well as the actual post topics and outlines.”

6. Set up promotional tools
• A blog needs to have the means of traveling and for people to easily get in and out, in other words by sharing. With social media quickly expanding it is key now more than ever that you set up your social media channels and social bookmarking. You can do this by linking your blog to existing social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

7. Create a takeaway
• Create a carrot giving visitors a reason to subscribe to your business blog. RSS traffic can be very reliable and provide a steady flow of traffic to your blog. This, however, is only as long as you treat your subscribers with care, by maintaining a constant connection with them through your blog. (Reaching out to your subscribers is a sure way to show you care.)

8. Meet with design and development teams
• Business blogs should be professionally designed and developed by a company. Once you have the rest of the 7 tips finished then you should be on your way to meeting with experienced teams or professionals. They can assist in putting you on the right track towards gaining correct user experience for your new business blog.

So let’s re-cap, business blogs should be: timely, exceptionally well written, extensions of a brand and cost-effective. You should set goals for your professional blog’s desired return on investments and be able to keep track of this. Although your business blog may initially cost you some time and money, it should all be worth it in the end so good luck!

Source: http://weblogbetter.com/2010/09/29/8-things-to-do-before-starting-a-business-blog/

How many co-workers from your work place are on Facebook? MySpace? AIM? Twitter? Are social networks acting as a buffer to real life social interaction at your office? These social networks and many like them have enabled a different type of co-existence in the work place. You can be involved in a person’s “life” depending how much they post notifications or photos about themselves for your viewing pleasure.

How many times have you sent a message via a social network to ask, “What’s for lunch?” when the co-worker your asking is right next to you or really close by? There can be so much interaction with a co-worker on these social networks without actually having to come face-to-face with people for days, weeks or months. This may or may not be a good thing for a relationship in many respects. For example: You’re able to see how their vacation went just by looking at their photos (once they are posted) without ever actually speaking to them in person. According to what you see, it will be left to your assumption. There is also the lack of emitting physical emotions by just words. To slightly assist with the emitting of physical emotions, emoticons and certain symbols have been created.

Can these social networks get you into trouble? There have been many instances where you have read about a co-worker or you have vented about work on these social networks. At this point, it is your own responsibility to partake in the venting or ignore. What if you were scrutinized by a superior at work for a posting on your profile related to the work place? As the social media revolution rises, tracking what an employee does or says has become a lot easier. There have been recorded instances where an employee has been fired from their position due to a venting or complaint about their work place.  Also, there have been recent findings that employers check social networks when your application is received, meaning that if you have indecent pictures, comments or posts you might not even be considered for that position without looking at your credentials.

Some social networking tips for the work place:

• Try not to post in anger. Even if you delete it afterwords, there is a possibility it can be found by a simple Google search.
• Many of the social networks offer privacy settings that allow you to decide who you chose to connect with. So set up filters and even block people you don’t want to connect.
• Be wary of the photos you add and are made viewable to everyone in your social networking circle.
• Try not to associate accounts or profiles with a work e-mail account if you are provided one.

Bottom line is – Watch what you say. Watch what you add. Watch who you connect with.