Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

If you lead a business and aren’t among the many companies using a blog for marketing purposes, your business likely will within the next year. Awhile back, Emarketer estimated that the proportion of all U.S. companies that will use dedicated blogs as a marketing channel will reach 43% this year. Businesses using blogs for communications, lead generation, customer service and branding primarily do so for these reasons : • corporate control of the tool • its integration with company web properties • no limits on post lengths • the ability to maintain a full, searchable repository of information Successful blogs generally follow these tips and guidelines : 1. Make your blog as non-promotional as possible. 2. Keep it relevant to the reader. 3. Answer your customers’ questions or address their pain points. 4. Be sure it’s well-written. 5. Make it relevant to your company or products. 6. Offer proof or third-party validation to claims ...

Here are eight tips for leaders new to blogging or for leaders who want to ensure their company's Blog is the most effective it can be: Use keywords for your business in your Blog posting headlines. Write about the pain points of your target reader. Be sure your Blog covers topics where you or your company is truly an expert. Keep your Blog postings short.  Keep paragraphs and sentences short.  Use bullets. Include a call to action.  Perhaps you ask a question or offer a downloadable white paper.  Or, ask readers to sign up for your company's e-newsletter. Publish a list that is likely to be shared by your Blog's readers.  Include and quote industry experts in your Blog postings. Use free metrics and analytical tools to measure which of your postings are best read and shared.  Use the tool to track the sources that drive the most traffic to your Blog.

If you lead a business and aren’t part of the 34% of U.S. companies using a blog for marketing purposes, your business likely will within the next year. According to Emarketer, the proportion of companies using dedicated blogs as a marketing channel—excluding blogs on social networks and microblogs such as Twitter—will rise to 39% in 2011 and to 43% by 2012. Emarketer reports that businesses are launching their own blogs for communications, lead generation, customer service and branding primarily for these reasons: • corporate control of the tool • its integration with company web properties • no limits on post lengths • the ability to maintain a full, searchable repository of information Successful blogs generally follow these tips and guidelines: 1. Make your blog as non-promotional as possible. 2. Keep it relevant to the reader. 3. Answer your customers’ questions or address their pain points. 4. Be sure it’s well-written. 5. Make it relevant to your company or produc...