Business Blogging Advice?

Zascar

My father is a management consultant. He has a website but I think it would be a good idea to start a blog to aid his online presence. He has quite a specific area of specialisation, and has considerable expertise in this, so it was my idea to start a fully featured blog and write articles on the subject, and have news about the industry etc...

I want to do this right from the start, I'm wondering if you guys can offer me advice or point me in the right direction as to all the areas I need to think of and make sure I am doing right etc.

All advice appreciated
Cheers

BenjAii

The strength of blogging is that it allows you to network online, has your father given any thought to social media ? Linkedin, Twitter and so forth.

IMHO, the best business blogs put the hard sell firmly on the back burner and gain credibility and repeat viewing because they're both informative, entertaining and make it worth your while to read.

The Mighty Ken

WordPress is free and easy-to-install blogging software - you can host it yourself or have WordPress host it.

Your dad's site appears to be on a Windows server so all you would need to do would be to log-in to the control panel, ensure PHP is installed, create a new database, download WordPress and upload it to your server and follow the installation instructions (it's practically a self-install). Voila.

mneylon

If he hasn't blogged previously then maybe get him started on something like blogger (or similar) to see how he gets on before moving it across to his main site ie. let him dip his toes a bit instead of diving in at the deep end

DonkeyStyle \o/

blacknight wrote: »

If he hasn't blogged previously then maybe get him started on something like blogger (or similar) to see how he gets on before moving it across to his main site ie. let him dip his toes a bit instead of diving in at the deep end

+1
Blogging seems like a great idea until you have to start actually writing for it and updating it.
Maybe ask him to write ten sample posts first, or go the blogger/wordpress.com route.

Zascar

He has not blogged previously but I have some of experience having a couple of blogs myself. I'll be using wordpress and trying to get it as fully featured as possible/feasible.

I'll be making sure he writes good quality articles often and I'll take care of the rest for the time being.

Thanks for the advice on LinkedIn / Twitter, might look into that some more.

mneylon

Zascar wrote: »

I'll be making sure he writes good quality articles often and I'll take care of the rest for the time being.

That's a lot easier said than done

Zascar

blacknight wrote: »

That's a lot easier said than done

Writing articles or everything else? What do you mean, any advice for me?

OK let me restructure my question a little:

How can I maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of this blog, both technically and otherwise...

Thanks

Zascar

Ok guys I have now completed the first draft of the blog - I would appreciate if you would give me some feedback: Franchising Blog

Some Notes:
- The theme will do for now but I plan to get one custom designed for us.
- We have just put a few example articles on there for the moment, but this will grow substantially soon.
- Work needed on Tags and Categories etc
- I will changing the URL's to domain.com/post-name

I'm on the lookout for any additional features I can add etc. Any suggestions for improvement would be appreciated.
Thanks

mneylon

Setup permalinks

Zascar

Thanks, I'll try to do thatl once I can get access to the directory. Your new hosting package is driving me nuts. Auto-install of wordpress and I cannot even find the root directory? Something to do with hidden directories...

EDIT: Ok that's done now - permalinks are now set up :-D

mneylon

Zascar wrote: »

Thanks, I'll try to do thatl once I can get access to the directory. Your new hosting package is driving me nuts. Auto-install of wordpress and I cannot even find the root directory? Something to do with hidden directories...

EDIT: Ok that's done now - permalinks are now set up :-D

This isn't a Blacknight support site, so if you have issues please contact us directly

Zascar

Sorry Michele, I was on to your support and your guys help me out brilliantly as always.

Permalinks / SEO Url's are now active.

BenjAii

Zascar wrote: »

Writing articles or everything else? What do you mean, any advice for me?

OK let me restructure my question a little:

How can I maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of this blog, both technically and otherwise...

Thanks

For a start set the site up on Google Analytics (I use this there are plenty of alternatives), and start monitoring the sites traffic.

That way you have measurements to see if the blog in general is getting the site more hits. You can also measure upswing in response to using sevices like Digg/Twitter etc

Have a look in the SEO section of the forum for info in this vein.

Zascar

Thanks. I have google analytics on the main site, i use wordpress stats on the wordpress blog. I'll be sure to monitor it.

BenjAii

Spotted this today, the IIA have an interim report on biz blogging in Ireland

http://www.socialtext.net/iia-smwg/index.cgi?business_blogging