Over the last several years, blogging has become a very popular way to communicate. We have all seen the power bloggers have had on news and politics, but lesser known is business blogging. If done right, it can be a very effective marketing tool. You see, blogging is very much like publishing an article or sending out a press release. Blogging can draw new visitors to your web site. It can also be an effective way to relay more details about your products or services than you can on a web page. But just how do you get started?

Most bloggers use online services to publish their blogs, but many web platforms include the capability of blogging. Here are a few of the many choices you have:

Online Services

• Blogger (www.blogger.com) is Google's free blogging service.
• LiveJournal (www.livejournal.com) from SixApart is a free blogging service, largely used for creating personal journals.Typepad (
• www.typepad.com), another service from Six Apart, is used by many business blogs.

Web Development Platforms

• Drupal (www.drupal.org) a web publishing platform with loads of powerful features. This is a Drupal based site. My client has a Drupal based site at www.apackaging.net.
• Joomla (www.joomla.org) a web publishing platform also with powerful features. One of my clients, St. Paul Lutheran Church (www.splconline.com), has a site I developed using Joomla.Movable Type (
• www.sixapart.com/moveabletype/) provides more advanced site design and development capabilities.WordPress (www.wordpress.org) is a personal publishing platform for bloggers who want more sophisticated features.

Large corporations like Microsoft and General Motors offer blogging to their employees through their own web servers. With applications like Drupal, you can do the same. Chances are that you will gain other valuable features by changing to one of these open source platforms. If you are planning on upgrading your site, take a look at Drupal or Joomla. If you do not have a webmaster, contact me. I can help you choose the right platform.

When you are ready, try to introduce your blog by publishing every other day for the first two weeks, then you can settle in to a schedule that is comfortable to you. The initial blast helps to set the image of your blog and announces to the search engines that you are serious. After the initial blast, you should try to publish at least once a week. It helps if you have all of the blast blog copy ready to go before publishing the first one. That way you will have a chance to establish your style and your credentials as an expert.

There are just a couple of rules you should follow:

1. Be civil. Do not use your blog as a rant about your competitors or your industry. Blogging is about opinion but negative blogging will get you negative results.
2. Never lie or try to hide information. That is a sure way to chase away readers, permanently.
3. Do not con the blogosphere. Be yourself, be natural. Your writing style will match your personality, the same personality you have in your day to day business. So do not take on a special persona just for your blog.

All of the platforms and services we discussed have the ability to handle comments from your readers. Use this to your advantage. By responding to comments you are establishing a dialog with your readers. By handling even the negative comments in a helpful manner strengthens your position as an expert in your subject.

Now, go and get blogging.

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