Blog Tools

There has never been a better time to start a corporate blog, writes Chris Abraham. Amateurs have largely shifted to Twitter and Facebook, leaving space for professionals to enter and shape the conversation -- and the rise of social tools makes it easier than ever to find an audience for your content, he writes. "[Y]ou too can be part of feeding the giant maw of the 24/7/365 Twitter, Facebook, and social media monster," Abraham writes.

An effective corporate blog campaign requires more than blog posts, says social-media strategy consultant Jay Baer. The best corporate blogs are part of diversified content strategies that engage with users across a plethora of channels, he notes. "Have a blog post, but also do stuff on SlideShare and do podcasts and do videos and do stuff on Scribd and Squidoo and Wikipedia and sort of be everywhere. Because each piece of content you create is more bait in the water. Both for Google and for people finding it," he says.

To take a corporate blog to the next level, it's vital to use keywords effectively, says Top Rank Marketing's Lee Odden. Design a list of keywords tailored to your ideal customer, then use SEO basics to ensure that your posts and headlines feature your target words as prominently as possible. Clever turns of phrase may look impressive, Odden notes, but "search engines don't understand puns or metaphors."

Every blogger knows that certain kinds of posts attract more attention, comments and reader engagement, writes David Smith. Giveaways and competitions are obvious ways to draw people in, Smith writes, but inviting users to write their own posts, boosting value with how-to guides or hooking people with an ongoing series can also be powerful engagement-boosting strategies.

To get the most out of your company's blog, it's best to round up an interdepartmental team of contributors, writes Sean Donahue. That way, content will continue to flow, even when some of the contributors are off with other commitments. Use a schedule to ensure everyone knows when to post, Donahue suggests, and be sure to track traffic and praise or reward successful posts.

Corporate blogs can be an important part of a broader social-media strategy, writes Sarah Hofstetter, but only if you keep your audience engaged and enthused. Polish your writing, make it easy for users to share your content and use social-media platforms and hub pages to promote your blog content