Comments: encourage, accept and reply

In my opinion, one of the key characteristics of your Blog and one that you need to work with is the ability for people to comment on what you have posted. Some people take an even more rigid view and say that it is not really a blog without this!

This facility on your blog helps to open up and develop channels of communications between yourself and your readers and can be the perfect way of starting a business relationship. For some blogs, the comments (and what they can lead to) are the main reason they are written in the first place.

So, contrary to some views I hear in organisations thinking about using a blog, your decision should not be whether to allow comments or not, but rather how to elicit comments and how to best handle the ones you receive. Whether you moderate them or allow your visitors to comment freely (having filtered out the spam comments of course – Akismet is great for this), you should consider the fact that people want to comment and want to get involved to be a compliment to your post.

You should also look to encourage it. Ask an open question at the end of your post which is actively looking for responses – this will give people something to focus on in the responses. If you are talking to someone about a subject that you have written on, refer them to the post and ask them to join in and give their view as well.

You should also aim to respond to the comments that are made – after all, you are writing to pique people’s interest in your subject and looking to engage with your readers, so if they respond and ask a question then make sure that you reply to it.

Of course, there are going to be occasions where the comments will not be favourable – this is to be expected. You cannot please all the people all of the time. However, in all but the most extreme cases (I’m thinking primarily here about libellous comments), you really should allow the comments to appear and respond to their points by presenting your point of view. While tempting, it’s best not to ignore this type of comment: after all, you are there to put forward and argue your point of view and you will often gain greater respect by handling objections with grace and tact in this way.

So, comments, and the interaction they bring, are a key element of what make a Business Blog so effective. If you were ever considering not allowing comments then I would urge you to rethink because you would be slamming the door shut on some of the key relationship building opportunities you’ll get.

How do you encourage comments on your blog?

Blogging in the News – w/e 15 Oct

Britain’s Blogging ‘A’ List

which gives a list of the Top UK bloggers. This is ranked according to the number of links that they receive as measured by Technorati, one of the leading Blog Search Engines.

Mass Blogging Day to Promote History Campaign

which is encouraging people to participate in leaving their thoughts about a day in their life this coming Tuesday.

Blogging ‘un-Christian’ – shock

presents another view on the use of blogging.

Parties bin Posters in favour of blogs

which indicates some political parties deciding that Blogs would be more effective than posters to get their message across. Baaaa!

Keyword phrase selection: some helpful tools

You should always write first and foremost for your readers – that is a rule which is key to achieving a successful blog. However, a blog is also an important tool in getting good rankings in the Search Engines for keyword phrases which are important to us and our businesses.

We know that identifying the best keyword phrases is going to be key to our efforts to get better rankings through Search Engine Optimisation. This will allow us to focus our articles at areas which we know will appeal bot to our readers and to the Search Engines at the same time. It can also help to achieve a more comprehensive coverage in our chosen area by identifying keyword phrases in adjacent areas that are relevant to what we offer.

To help in this task and find the best keyword phrases, there are a number of tools available to help us achieve this and a lot of them are free!

Here are ones that I have looked at and consider worthwhile.

WordTracker
Probably the best known tool in the field and self styled “Leading Keyword Research Tool”. It is charged for, although there is a limited free trial, but it is also very complete in what it offers across a number of Search Engines.

Google AdWords: Keyword Tool
Gives ideas for new keywords associated with your target phrase but does not indicate relevance or give details of number or frequency of searches

Overture Keyword Selector Tool
Returns details of how many searches have been carried out in the Overture engine over the period of a month and allows a drill down into associated keywords containing your keyword phrase as well.

NicheBot
NicheBot has a mix of Wordtracker and Overture based tools as well as a nice keyword analysis tool which focuses on Google’s results

Digital Point Keyword Suggestion Tool
One of a set of tools available at the Digital Point website – this engine gives search numbers on keywords from Wordtracker and Overture sources

In addition to these, although some of the keyword tools mentioned above already include it, I would also recommend taking a look through a Thesaurus (online or paperback) to open up other avenues. Sometimes you just can’t beat going back to basics!

Will Google and Yahoo find my Blog?

Question

Does my blog only show up in Blog Search Engines like Technorati or will it also be found on Google, Yahoo and MSN?

The Blog Coach replies:

When they first start to run a Business Blog and learn about the Blog Search Engines, some people worry that blogs will only appear in these blog specific Search Engines and not in the mainstream ones. This is absolutely not true.

A Blog at the end of the day is a website which has certain special characteristics – therefore, it will certainly appear in the main Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. In fact, blogs are much more likely to rank highly in

Starting to write your Business Blog

It is always an exciting (if slightly nerve racking) time when you actually start to write your Business Blog. It is also a very important time because in your first posts, you will be laying down the ground rules for what your readers can expect from you in the future.

However, there are certain things that you can do in this initial period which will make it easier to get your first posts in place and will give you a solid foundation from which you can then develop.

Set yourself realistic goals for posting

You should try to set yourself some goals as to how often you want to post to your blog. Don’t commit to once a day if you know that you won’t have the time – instead, make your goals realistic and then stick to them. Once you get going, you can be certain that it will not be a lack of subjects to write about that will hold you back, but rather how much time you can dedicate to it. You should also bear in mind that you will need to split that time between researching your posts AND writing them.

Hint: set up your RSS reader NOW and start to record your information sources in it. It will save you hours in research later on!

Plan ahead

You don’t want to feel under pressure to think of what to write about, particularly at the start. You want to be able to concentrate on the post itself. So, map out the topics that you want to cover during the first few days and weeks and try to make them ones that you feel particularly comfortable about. This will provide you with a framework to work with.

You don’t need to plan every post, in fact you shouldn’t. If you are intending to create a blog which will get people coming back on a regular basis then you will also be commenting on breaking news or on articles that are posted elsewhere. However, by getting clear in your own mind the initial topics that you want to cover, you will allow yourself to really focus on them which in turn will help your initial writing.

Set out your stall with your “Foundation” posts

Within this first set of posts, try to include at least 2 or 3 articles on key topics – these are ones that I call “Foundation” posts. They are posts which focus in on some of the principal areas and concepts that you are going to be dealing with in your blog as a whole. They can be simply instructive or could introduce a number of the ideas that you will build on (hence “Foundation”) and develop over the course of writing your blog.

Suggestion: if you are unsure about what to include, then have a look at the presentations that you have made to clients or partners and pick out the important themes that you highlight there.

Write a series of posts on a specific topic

Another good way of getting going is to write a series of posts on a topic which is important to your overall subject area. A series can help in a number of different ways, but in particular will allow you to go into detail on a single topic that you feel is particularly important and that you are comfortable writing about. Not only will this help to get you started and gain some momentum in your writing, it will also establish a strong focus area in your blog.

Comment on news in your industry

By commenting on events and announcements in your industry, you are showing yourself to be up to date with what is happening and that you are informed enough to have an opinion on them. It will also help you to position yourself as a key source of information for your readers who no longer have to trawl the web for the information (and view your competitors’ sites) because they know they will find it on yours! Essentially, this is a great way of adding content to your site which also helps build the level of trust and confidence in you and your knowledge.

Sitting there with a blank screen in front of you is always a difficult time, so use some of these methods to get you started. You can be certain that you’ll be up and running much more quickly than you expected.