The Pitfalls Of Business Blogging
Author: Danny Wirken

Whether you are aware of it or not, your customers, potential
clients, business associates, competitors and employees are
already engaged in business blogging. They are conversing in
real time about your products or services, news and
developments in your niche. They are discussing about your new
product release. Sad to say, if they have not spread it
already, they are definitely gossiping about the customer
service blunder you hoped you could keep hush-hush. Word
travels fast in the blogosphere. Blogging gets you noticed and
referenced, favorable or not, in your industry's conversations.
Business blogging has its benefits but, alas, it also has its
share of pitfalls.

A business blog can help build your company's reputation and
credibility in your niche business area. It is a cost-effective
way to communicate with targeted audience. It provides business
feedbacks through comments. A well-executed blog can boost
search engine rankings thus raising chances of potential
customers visiting your site and ultimately generating sales.

More importantly, you should be aware of the pitfalls or perils
that accompany business blogging. If you have finally figured
out how blogging can work for your targeted market, then,
seriously consider the technical pitfalls of creating a blog
that might befall you especially if you are a newbie in the
field of blogging.

Before embarking on blogging, you must have read and read some
more blogs to familiarize yourself with the blogosphere
especially your specific niche. Reading other blogs can spur
ideas for blogging topics. Not doing any research will leave
you writing in futility. You don't know what questions your
target audience wants answered and what they would like to
read. More so, you might not even have a clear-cut goal. What
is the purpose of your blog? What problem does it want to solve
or gap to fill? You have not determined what is it you are
trying to get done. You definitely will not have good topics to
write about because topics should be in consonance with your
business objectives. Writing without a purpose will get you
nowhere. It will just turn readers away.

Not knowing how to use your blogging software properly will, in
most cases, produce a non-professional-looking blog. A blogging
tool goes to great pains to ensure that your blog will look
good, the text look beautiful and the html code it generates
follow web standards. It will be to your business advantage if
you understand how the vast and sophisticated features work to
increase your blog's chance of being found on the Internet.
Keep in mind that first impressions count with readers.

Not optimizing keywords, categories, subscriptions will make it
difficult for readers to find your blog. The primary purpose of
a blog to be successful is readership. Search engines are a
great source of readers. If you are writing a blog post that
you want to be read, bear in mind that readers will use
keywords to find your blog entry. Keywords are vital to high
search engine ranking. Top ranking equals traffic and traffic
is readership. Categorizing your blog will also make it more
user-friendly and make the content more search engine ranking
friendly. Subscribing to an RSS feed allows readers to receive
automatic updates whenever you publish fresh content. Not
making frequent posts makes readers lose interest in your blog
as there is nothing new to peruse. You have to make it a
priority to post consistently. The more you post the more
reasons the readers will come to read some more.

Finally, you have sorted out how to avert the technical perils
of business blogging. Brace yourself; there are even deeper
pitfalls with much more severe repercussions to consider. For
one, businesses that allow misrepresentations – faulty or
misleading information to appear on their blogs can create a
public disaster. Some business companies keen to develop
one-to-one links with customers, set up character blogs. A
character blog is typically conceptualized by marketing people
to promote a product or service using fictitious character.
This kind of blog is quite risky as some ardent bloggers regard
them as an insult to the blogging community. A classic example
is the Vichy case. As part of its marketing launch for its new
anti-aging cream, Vichy's advertising team created a blog
featuring a bogus author named Claire who incessantly whined
about the travails of aging using the same wordings as the
Vichy print ad. It elicited a flurry of negative reactions from
around the blogosphere condemning Vichy for passing off a phony
on their turf. Blogs are about real conversations with real
people.

Turning a deaf ear to what the blogosphere is saying can be
fatal to a company. Kryptonite, a lock maker company did not
respond quickly to a blog comment and cost them millions of
dollars. Engadget, a highly trafficked blog published a video
file showing how a Bic ball pen can easily open a Kryptonite
lock. Kryptonite took its time before issuing a statement that
did not assuage the thousands who bought the lock in good
faith. Bloggers lambasted Kryptonite and caused heavy traffic
to the Engadget blog site. Finally, Kryptonite succumbed and
replaced the locks at a staggering cost of $10 million. Take
heed; monitor what others are saying in the blogosphere. Your
blog is part and parcel of a dynamic conversation. You should
track your image in the blogging arena. Reputation risks can
surface if your company pays no attention or misjudge the
opinions in the blogosphere.

Business blogging can expose your company to legal problems
that can cause serious damage to your business reputation.
Irresponsible blogging can subject your company to libel,
slander and even harassment lawsuits. Off-hand comments may
offend customers. Disclosure of confidential corporate
information and trade secrets will definitely place a company
in jeopardy. Several instances of indiscreet blogging have
caused employee terminations. Ellen Simonetti, A Delta Air
Lines employee was fired for posting inappropriate images of
herself in uniform on her blog. A system administrator at the
Manitoba Health Sciences Centre was sacked after posting on his
blog "Sitting around doing nothing for three hours while being
paid – priceless." Needless to say, companies should draw up
corporate blogging policies that will state clearly acceptable
and unacceptable blogging practices. Companies should educate
its employees about the business and legal risks involved with
blogging.

In a nutshell, do not blog for the sake of blogging. A clear
business goal is a must. See to it that your blog reflects your
company's desired image. Carefully weigh the implications of
anything you post. Be wary of potential consequences and be
reminded that with blogging, anything that appears on the
Internet is instantly available to a global massive audience.


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