Blogging Strategies!

Baz_

Hi all,

I am trying to run a small company, and upon the companies website I have set up a blog. Now I've been adding personal entries to the blog at the moment, but my latest one is a bit how should I say OTT. It doesn't portray a professionalism that I would like to portray, but then again I don't want it to be too proper and stuffy all the time either. So I'm stuck in a bit of a dilemma.

I think I know the answer, and I'm thinking along theses lines. I use the company website blog for company types of things, and technical types of things related to the website, and personal things that aren't too stuffy, but also that aren't overly liberal either.

Then I get a different blog for whatever the hell I want to write.

What I would like to know is, has anyone else come across this dilemma, and how did you solve it, or are you still trapped in the dilemma?

Also where is a good place to get a blog? I'm strongly considering subscribing to boards.ie and using the free blog here, but how about other peoples experiences?

Anyway thats about it.

Cheers in advance.

Baz_

drrnwbb

i dont see why this is a dilemma, you have to ask yourself if your customers would feel comfortable reading your "OTT" postings on the company blog.

you seem to have given your own answer: "Then I get a different blog for whatever the hell I want to write." keeping ones personal life and ones professional life seperate should be obvious. you can still post non stuffy type postings to the company blog - but try to keep away from personal postings.

free blogs are easy to find these days: blogger.com, blogsome.com and so on.

smiaras

This post has been deleted.

flogen

I dropped my original blog because I felt it was getting too much like a diary and had lost any real worth. That's not to say that personal blogs are worthless, but it wasn't what I wanted to blog about and it wasn't what I felt any interest in continuing.

Since I started my new blog I've been careful not too get too personal. Sometimes you need to blog about something, it may be a big life-changing event that effects the professional aspect of your life (and so the subject of your blog). Generally I try and keep away from it.
Saying that, it's up to you. Some blogs work with a mix of personal and general content but it all depends on your style. However, if your blog is for your company I would say to keep your personal life out of it. If you're blogging about your product/service there's no need to talk about your family. If it were a personal blog where you spoke heavily about your job, then personal stuff would fit ok, but if someone reads the blog hoping to learn more about your company and starts reading stuff about you, they may lose interest.

ecchi

OK, I am first an online businessman and to me my business takes priority over my blogs, so my opinion on this may upset blog purists, but for what its worth:

If your blog is part of your business site then it's main aim should be to get you new customers. The beauty of a blog is that it attracts people to your site who would not otherwise come to your site, and possibly make customers out of them. So I would say keep the personal stuff in it (if it is interesting) even if it is of no relevance to your business, it will attract surfers to your blog who may be tomorrow's customers.

However your blog's secondary aim should be to keep existing customers coming back, so be careful of anything that may offend anyone, or you will scare away existing customers. Let your blog be as free ranging in subject matter as you like, but steer away from expressing an opinion on anything unless you are certain that every single one of your customers shares your view.

DeVore

Been there, in spades!

When I ran a small company (12 employees) it was a constant worry that being "DeVore" and running Boards the way I/we wanted to would come into conflict with being "Tom", a fairly hardnosed businessman. It occasionally DID cause friction (one meeting with Eircom in particular )... I did everything I could to keep the two sides of my life separate and where that wasnt possible I stood over who I am, and damn the begrudgers. Those times were very very rare and not very problematic.

There were topics I probably would have covered deeper if I hadnt sensed that perhaps I didnt want to do that dirty laundry in public but not specifically business related worries.

Now I have two blogs, one is for general rambling and philosophical writings and one is dedicated to my life as a poker player... I'm sure some people read both but many wouldnt be interested in the other!

DeV.

topgold

Whatever you do, I believe it pays to stay thematic. Talk about specific categories of things in blogs that have specific newsfeeds.

If you talk about your cat on your business blog, it might pay to have your cat feature in your sales literature. People like dealing with people but they don't like knowing too much information--technical or personal--when they're paying clients.