Don't Ruin Your Blog

I read a good post today on Business Gears.

Ted Demopoulos writes a strong blog called "Blogging For Business" chock full of tips for B2B bloggers. He is a Business Gears contributor and his post, 5 Ways to Ruin Your Blog is what caught my eye. With perfect sarcasm, he defines some bad blogging behaviors.

IMHO, accountants, lawyers and consultants should especially heed numbers 2, 3, and 4.

1) Don't stay on topic!

Ahhh, you just had a baby -- please post a couple dozen pictures and blog on nipple soreness and whatever else for a few weeks. We won't mind, really. And if your college curling team or favorite NFL team is in the finals or Super Bowl, please post about it for days on end. If you care then we must care...What were you blogging on anyways?

This "don't" is why I seldom post on personal topics. (I sure hope it's not too much! If it is, do tell me!) He's right. As a blog reader, I can enjoy the very occasional personal or tangent post but, for the most part, it's a little disappointing when your fave business author begins to talk politics, sports, or hobbies more often than business.

2) Be insular.

Yeah, maybe they call it social media but you can be antisocial if you'd like. Don't link to others. Don't read, never mind comment, on other blogs. Your never ending soliloquy is enough for us to flock to your blog daily for the rest of our lives.

This is something that frustrates me with a lot of lawyers/accountants/consultants who start blogging. Unlike the one-way street of a firm newsletter, blogs are about connecting the dots between others' ideas and your own. This means using links, reading and communicating with others, and becoming part of the community of people who are reading your blog!

3) Write like traditional writing, not speaking.

Conversational, smonversational! We want perfect English, proofread multiple times and worthy of publishing in an encyclopedia (remember those?) or The New Yorker.

Remember that this point is delivered with sarcasm! Your blog post needn't be an article in your profession's Journal. That said, I have recently received a fairly scathing email from someone pointing out a misspelled word. Thankfully, blog software has spell-checkers (if we just remember to use them). But tone is another story. Be yourself and be helpful, not technically perfect.

4) Don't let us know who you are!

No picture, no about us page, nothing personal.

I've found several great BUSINESS blogs where I can't determine who is writing it (especially on Blogger), what company they are with, or how to reach the author. If you're one of these authors, your blog isn't helping you like it should be! Make it easy for readers to see you, learn your name, and contact you.

5) Lots of colors, dozens of fonts, flashing lights, autoplay audio.

Make it look like a casino. Or even MySpace

Haven't seen this too often on biz blogs lately, but good advice...

Comments

[Susan Cartier Liebel]

This is a great piece. It's so important to stay on topic as time is precious and if you don't consistently deliver the information I want to know when I spend those precious minutes coming to your blog...I'm going to go elsewhere...that's for sure.

[Ted Demopoulos, Blogging for Business]

Thanks Michelle,

I must admit I have violated numbers 1-3 in the past, and staying on topic require constant diligence.

[Marijean]

That is a great piece, and one to share with clients entering the blogosphere, for sure.

I think it would be great if some of those B2B blogs out there didn't follow the advice (or took it literally) -- some of them do need to crash in burn or go away, clogging up the 'sphere with innane blather. No one will miss them.