Why do Corporate Blogs Fail?

March 28^th 2013 Sally Ormond corporate blog, how to blog, running a corporate blog

Did you know that 80% of corporate blogs don’t get beyond a fifth post?

Who would have guessed that running a blog could be so difficult?

Well the reality is that it isn’t difficult to run, so where are the corporates going wrong?

Commitment

Like any long-term relationship, you have to show commitment.

A blog is and should be a marketing tool that you will use for many years, mainly because it takes time to build a following and reputation.

Producing new ideas day after day is tough so it may be an idea to pull in a number of staff members to regularly contribute. One thing that you may also want to consider is to find a professional copywriter to work with on a long-term basis. Not necessarily to write the posts for you, but to edit them. You see, everyone has a different style of writing, but the most effective blogs use the same style and voice for all the posts because that then helps the reader build a relationship with the writer. A good copywriter will be able to work with you to create your blog’s ‘voice’ and then edit the material from all your contributors to follow that style and approach.

But getting enough content is only one problem that needs to be solved, you also need to find ways to publicise it. Contrary to popular belief, just because you have a blog doesn’t mean it will be read. You have to tell people it’s there by shouting about it through social media. Make sure every post is tweeted about to encourage people to read it.

Then, as your readership builds, you’ll need someone whose responsibility it is to monitor and respond to comments.

There’s quite a bit to think about.

Your voice

Earlier I mentioned making sure your voice was consistent throughout the blog.

So how do you decide on your voice?

A conversational style is popular because it makes your posts easy to read, but what you don’t want to do is try to emulate the style of your favourite blog. You see, you need to find your own unique voice that your readers will relate to because no one likes a copy-cat.

You’ll also need to think about what to write. A mixture of opinions, how tos, top tips, interviews and case studies is always good to make sure your readers get a variety of posts to challenge and entertain them.

Patience

A successful blog doesn’t happen over night so have patience.

It will take time for your content to get into the search engines and for your readership to grow.

Make sure everyone knows about your blog by not only using social media as suggested above, but also adding its link to your email signature, newsletters and email marketing.

It will happen, just not immediately.

Above all remember that blogging isn’t a quick fix. It will bring in more traffic and customers, but only if you see it as the long-term commitment that it is.

Don’t give up, get in a copywriter to help you and keep going.