From the questions I get asked every day, I see that more and more people, both as individuals and as representatives of their companies, are looking for help in making sure that their blogging is working for them. It might be for an individual blog, or for one as part of their main website or for one that’s taking a leading role in their social media campaign. All are out there and being developed on a regular basis.

Of course, there’s a huge amount of information scattered around the internet about blogging including my own blog at Better Business Blogging – so where should people start looking? Well, my goal here is to make sure the answer is at “The Blog Coach”!

I’ve been writing about blogging (and doing it!) for some four years and want to bring all of that knowledge and experience here to you at the Blog Coach whether you’re coming to it for the first time or are looking for help to make it work better for you.

In fact, here atThe Blog Coach, I’ll be providing help and advice in response to a whole raft of questions from people including:

• those already blogging who are looking for new ideas, hints and recommendations to take it to the next level
• people looking for additional ideas on how to promote the blog and improve their Search Engine optimisation
• those looking for ways in which it can work better with the other social media tools and techniques which are available
• organisations wanting to learn how to improve its use for their business and attracting more customers.

In addition to the articles and advice, there are also a series of services which I offer either to create for you a blog which will fulfil the role you want it to and others where you can get the help and consultancy individually at the pace you want to help you develop you own blog and get the most out of it.

But for now, we have the opportunity to ask anything you want and I’ll try to answer it in a blog post over the coming weeks. Just send an email to mark@theblogcoach.co.uk

It’s good to be back sharing information here so do get in touch, ask those questions you’ve been wanting to and share your own experiences here with others! I look forward to chatting wih you!

Related posts:

1. The Blog Coach: new and improved
2. Generating Ideas for your Business Blog posts
3. Generating yet more ideas for your Business Blog

Instead I will be focussing on the Better Business Blogging site where you will still be able to keep up to date with the advice, tips, thoughts etc. on blogging and new media that would have appeared on these pages.

You will also be able to find me on the BT Broadband Office blog where I will be writing on the use of blogging as a marketing and business tool for small and medium sized businesses.

I hope to be able to return to posting here at some point but, as I say, if you come over to Better Business Blogging then I’ll make sure that you’re kept up to date on that!

In the meantime, thanks for reading and participating and see you over at BBB.

Related posts:

1. Blogging in the News – w/e 11 February

Well, as the TV people would probably say, this is now back to its normal Sunday evening slot. So, without further ado, here are some UK based news articles on blogging which have graced the media this week.

Forrester Research report identifies blog strengths for marketers

which focuses on the ROI of Blogging which is a subject that taxes us all. I have a couple of posts coming up on the subject for my corporate readers which I hope will be of interest.

UK consultancy calls for training and HR companies to start blogging

is an appeal that I am not likely to disagree with from Righttrack. “A communication and community-building tool”, you say? Spot on again.

I blog, therefore I am £70,000 richer

Not what you might exactly call a business blog but clearly a way to attract publishers with your writing and do that book deal you’ve often dreamed of. Solopreneurs take note – a blog is a great way of spreading the word on that book or indeed getting a deal to write one!

Analysis: the future of user-generated content

is a predominantly MySpace based article on what will undoubtedly be the growing area of user generated content online and a subject which includes the area of blogging and the business side that it embraces.

Web offers dream of riches

has the Financial Times reporting on the rise of Personal Finance blogs in the UK. A lot seem to err on the side of “personal” rather than “business” blogs (and some just seem to err, to be honest) but its clearly a growing area and business related so takes its place here.

Famous Cartoonist and “UK’s Most Influential Blogger” Dupes Tesco Into Helping him Find a Dream Date for Valentine’s Day

is nice twist of a Press Release for Stormhoek but I love the way Hugh McLeod (he of Gaping Void fame) does it, hence the mention.

Related posts:

1. Blogging in the News – w/e 25 February 2007
2. Blogging in the News – w/e 11 February
3. Spotlight on UK Blogs – 16 February 2007

Get to grips with business blogging

is an article which first appeared in PC World and looks at how business blogging can help companies as well as opinion from a number of commentators (including yours truly).

Getting the blog spammers to hang up their affiliations

looks at the problem of comment spam and particularly that caused by affiliate marketers looking for inbound links to their sites. [Comment: luckily using an anti-spam solution from Akismet, I've cut mine down to almost zero and there are other simple ways to stop it. We'll be looking at this subject in more depth soon.]

Business Link Urges Yorkshire Businesses To ‘Get Blogging’

shows that Business Link is helping to encourage businesses to look at the benefits that blogging can bring. Hopefully this will extend across more of the country and we’ll be able to get interested businesses quickly up to speed.

New Sony viral marketing ploy angers consumers

is actually from the end of December last year but reflects just how badly wrong even large companies can get blogging and social media marketing.

Blog your way to success

appeared in The Independent (and I get another short mention!) and focuses on how business blogging is proving successful in the US but is still in its infancy here in the UK, indicating the opportunities available for those companies which embrace it this year.

Related posts:

1. Blogging in the News – w/e 18 February 2007
2. Blogging in the News – w/e 25 February 2007
3. Blogging in the News – w/e 24 September

We will be looking at all aspects of blogging from the planning and design of blogs and blogsites which deliver on their business objectives, through to their marketing and ongoing development. In all cases, the focus will be firmly focused on the business aspect – not in terms of monetising your blog with adverts and the like, but in using a blog to develop business for your company.

The Blog Coach blogsite is designed and aimed at three main groups:

• corporates, small business and solopreneurs which are either planning or merely thinking about setting up a business blog to work for their businesses;
• those companies looking for ways to develop and/or market a blog which they have already set up for their business;
• anyone interested in understanding more about how to use the Social Media Marketing Toolkit they have at their disposal.

While it isn’t specifically aimed at experienced individual bloggers, I hope that The Blog Coach will be able to offer you something as well and I would welcome comments and feedback from you so that it can be shared with others.

In addition to the main categories which will help you identify areas of particular interest, there are also some guiding categories which will help to give focus to the posts. These will be:

• Planning and Setting up a Blog
• Writing and Developing your Blog
• Business Blog Marketing
• Blogging for your Business
• Corporate Blogging
• New Media / Social Media Marketing Toolkit

Although it will be aimed at and looking at the use of blogging in business sense and how to make it work for you, I hope that people running individual blogs will certainly gain from some of the sections.

So, whatever stage you are at with your Business Blogging, I invite you to dip in on a regular basis – to make that as easy as possible, why not add The Blog Coach to your favourite RSS Reader as well? Hopefully you’ll find the areas that we’re going to be discussing useful as well as interesting, and that you’ll feel the urge to join in!

I look forward to hearing from you.

Related posts:

1. The Blog Coach returns
2. The Blog Coach is spotted!
3. The Blog Coach and why hire a Blogging Consultant

This is just one of the two places that I will be presenting at during October on the subject of Business Blogging and eMarketing. Both events are free to attend so if you are in the area then it would be great to see you.

Woking Means Business – Seminars and Exhibition

Date: Weds 11th October (all day)
Place: HG Wells Conference & Events Centre, Church Street East, Woking GU21 6HJ
More Details: www.wokingmeansbusiness.com

The Woking Means Business Exhibition is focusing on “Marketing for Growth” and offers great networking, great seminars and the opportunity to do more business with local companies.

West London Business Network

Date: Thurs 19th October (19.30 start)
Place: Drayton Court Hotel, 2 The Avenue, West Ealing W13 8PH
More Details: www.wlbn.org

The West London Business Network is an independent networking organisation which meets on a monthly basis in Ealing, London.

Related posts:

1. Blogging in the News – w/e 11 February

Ah, but wait a minute, isn’t that just a page with some pdf documents on it? That’s not really a blog then is it? Stuart Bruce and Justin Patten would tend to agree and have already expressed their thoughts very clearly on the matter.

I guess that it is a “log” and it is on the “web” so in that sense it qualifies … but it is at that point that the similarities end. So what are the special characteristics that blogs have which make them blogs and such a potentially valuable business tool. Well, the main ones are:

• Readers can leave comments: your readers can respond to your posts so that you can get feedback, start conversations and develop relationships with potential clients, suppliers or partners. The perfect opener to creating a relationship and a network, though the more cautious among us may decide to moderate the comments first;
• Automatically organised: Blog software (which it is sensible to use) will automatically display your most recent posts first, making them easy to find, as well as organise all your posts into ‘categories’ and ‘archives’. This gives great organisation and structure to a blog, perfect for visitors and Search Engines alike and allows you to concentrate on the content
• Permalinks: every post and every category has its own individual address, forever! This means that you can refer to them in articles, emails, newsletters etc safe in the knowledge that they will always be found. Another great feature for the Search Engines.
• Multiple Authors: not only can one person add content but you can allow access to any number of people so that you have several authors contributing to a topic or a series of topics. It also opens up the possibilities for blogs as tools ideally suited to internal communications within a company.
• No technical knowledge required: you don’t need technical expertise to write a blog. You add pages or articles directly to the blog through a “Windows” type of interface with no need to rely on a web designer to update it for you;
• Internal and External Links: blogs thrive by links and referring to other articles so that conversations and ideas can be taken up and developed. At its best, this allows a viral effect in terms of promotion and helps develop both relationships and networks.
• Search Engine friendly: with regular posts, categorised content and search engine friendly links and addresses, business blogs become ideal places for Search Engines to find the type of content they love … and you can rank very highly! An added marketing bonus for your blogging!

I would also recommend any company looking to start its own blog to take the Green Cross Code of Blogging approach and make sure that they are aware of how other are using blogs and what they should be considering.

I do, however, see that Legal Week has just started its own series of blogs including an Editor’s Blog and a Daily Diary which look to be much more what we would expect. Good luck with those!

No related posts.

Definitely professional interest.

While it is an interesting overview, I think that it skims over the business side of what a blogging consultant should be able to offer and focuses too much on simply their knowledge of the Blogosphere. Certainly that’s important, as is the passion – you have to know how things work and why they work before you can start to apply them to a business situation.

But you also need to understand the business requirements of the companies you work with, their customers and their other marketing activities if you want to truely integrate a blog and really add value. You should feel comfortable working with both the marketing and technical teams (as well as the general management) with larger clients, and potentially be able to provide both of these roles yourself with smaller clients.

What I did like was the split that was made, between why set up a blog and how to do it so that it really works for your business. In the conferences they are running, they are focusing on the “how” rather than the “why”. I have no doubt that in the US, this is the right way to go.

However, in the UK, we are very clearly in a situation where we need both – the majority of companies are still at a stage where they are learning what blogs can offer them and why they should be considering them. However, there are also a growing number who have identified where they can be applied and now require help and direction in achieving that.

It is for this reason that I now run two blogs aimed at helping companies with their Business Blogging and the split between “Why” and “How” seems like a good one.

• Why set up a blog? – Better Business Blogging will be looking primarily at these aspects by focusing in on the range of business uses/applications of a blog and the issues in business and corporate blogging;
• How to do it? – The Blog Coach will aim to address the need for specific advice on the implementation, development and marketing of blogs as well as offering services and workshops to help businesses achieve this.

As you might imagine, there will be overlap between the two areas as one flows into the other but the differentiation is a good starting point.

So, why work with a Blog Consultant or, dare I say, a Blog Coach? Well, certainly for the understanding of how the blogosphere works and what works best, but also for the ability to apply that knowledge by getting to the heart of your business and ensuring it will produce the best results for you and your customers.

Related posts:

1. The Blog Coach returns
2. The Blog Coach: new and improved
3. The Blog Coach is spotted!

Just to let you know that there will be a short hiatus in updating The Blog Coach as I am having a few days break and the PC has been banned … just for a week, though.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as we are sure just what normal is (sic: Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy) – or alternatively on Tuesday 19th September.

There is, however, going to be a lot of information coming your way over the next couple of months on:

• specific ways in which you can use a Blog from a business and marketing perspective;
• how to use your Blog most effectively and get the best out of it;
• using RSS to encourage visitors and generate sales;
• integrating your blog with your other marketing activities;
• marketing and promoting your blog and therefore your business;
• … and a whole lot more.

So, do add The Blog Coach to your RSS reader and, just as importantly, drop me a line and let me know what areas you would like to see covered. My email address is mark(a t)theblogcoach.co.uk or you can leave a comment on this post.

See you soon!

Related posts:

1. The Blog Coach is spotted!
2. Blogging in the News – w/e 18 February 2007

While I had been intending to keep the launch of “The Blog Coach” quiet until after my break next week to allow me to add some content and additional functionality to it, Easton over at the excellent BusinessBlogWire has as ever been keeping his eyes peeled and ear to the blogging ground. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that The Blog Coach has been spotted.

So why the second site on Blogging?

As you may know I run the Better Business Blogging site which is designed to help give all the information you may need when setting up, developing and marketing a Business Blog. This has been hugely successful in its goal of providing a wide range of information on Business Blogging and nothing will be changing there – in fact, I will be increasing that. (Watch that space, so to speak!)

What I wanted to do was to set up a site which would also support my Blog Consultancy and Blogging Training Workshops here in the UK, and rather than interfere with the Better Business Blogging site, do so through an independent blog. Hence, The Blog Coach was born. I also want to be able to highlight the developments in the take up and understanding of blogging in the UK which I felt would not be appropriate on Better Business Blogging.

Anyway, formal launch comes later in the month and in the meantime … Welcome!! … and please do get in touch with me at mark(at)theblogcoach.co.uk to let me know about your blog or how you would like to use a blog to help develop your business.

Related posts:

1. The Blog Coach returns
2. The Blog Coach: new and improved
3. The Blog Coach and why hire a Blogging Consultant