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What to Find Out Before You Start a Business Blog – 25+ Web Resources

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How to blog series

We All Start Somewhere

cooltext455576688_blogging

Most of us who started a blog before LinkedIn and Twitter, while Facebook was barely finished code, got to the blogosphere one at time. We picked out our templates and our blogging platforms and decided what we would blog about. We learned the culture, the rules, and how to use the tools. And all of us learned HTML — the alphabet of blogs.

It was an apprentice culture. We learned the craft from other bloggers. At the same time we linked our blogs, read and commented, we got to know and connected to other bloggers. Much of the information was passed on as we got to know each other. If we needed to know how to do something, we just asked someone who had been blogging longer than we had. Some started building courses and putting together tutorials, probably because they realized they were repeating themselves — an audience existed to learn these things.

Then things changed. Somewhere around 2006, bloggers got serious about making money, running business from their blogs. Social media brought millions of people who had heard that blogs could help their business have a presence online.

It’s no longer an apprentice culture. Still, we all start somewhere. Now, resources exist in the form of blog posts written to answer frequently asked questions and courses to teach the masses. Still, the best way to start is to have someone point you in the right direction.

What follows are 25 how-tos and guides that represent over 65 resources that offer top-notch information for a solid start on a successful-business blog.

What to Find Out Before You Start a Business Blog – 25+ Web Resources

You wouldn’t build a business or a building to house one, without doing a little research first. At least, I hope not. Before you start or restart your business blog, do some research to give you context as you make the initial decisions so that you be confident about the who, what, when, where, why, and how. Here is what to find out before you start a successful business blog.

  1. Prelaunch Blog Review Checklist
  2. 10 Blogger Best Practices: Guides as You Extend Your Reach
  3. Don’t Buy that New Domain Name Yet
  4. 10 Questions about Starting a Business Blog Answered
    An FAQ with links to articles answering basic questions for starting a brand new business blog.
    1. Why should I start a business blog?
    2. What blogging application should a business blog use? WordPress or Blogger?
    3. What is the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?
    4. Are there any advantages to hosted vs. self-hosted (through a third party)?
    5. Should comments be allowed?
    6. Is it okay to moderate comments?
    7. What should I write about on my business blog?
    8. Are there any rules to business blogging such as content, ethics, etc.?
    9. Are there any security issues that I should be aware of?
    10. Is there anything else I should know about starting a business blog?
  5. How to Start a Business Blog Series
    A ten part series for starting strategically:
    Part 1 covers the basics and benefits of starting a business blog
    Part 2 is on determining the purpose of a business blog
    Part 3 is about choosing authors for a business blog
    Part 4 covers policy-making for business blogs
    Part 5 is about blog platform and website/blog integration
    Part 6 is a continuation of blog platform and site integration
    Part 7 covers business blog design considerations
    Part 8 is about how to choose blog categories for a business blog
    Part 9 tells you what you need to know about creating initial blog content in the pre-launch phase
    Part 10 was a very interesting look into business blog crisis management planning and its importance
  6. 8 Things to Do Before Starting a Business Blog
    WeBlogBetter SlideShare Presentation with notes.
  7. Blogging to Build Your Business
    Why and how a blog builds a marketing platform essential for growth.
  8. Which Business Blogging Strategy Is Right for You?
    Resource Nation defines distinct approaches to business blogging
  9. Checklist: How to Start a Business Blog
    A brief checklist from Hubspot
  10. How To: Choose The Right Platform For Your Business Blog
    Criteria for choosing the blogging tool that will be your home.
  11. Blogging for Business: How to Choose the Best Blog Platform
    A quick comparison of Blogger, WordPress, and Tumblr

    12. 7 Real Ways a Blog Raises Influence and Increases Expertise

  12. 8 Sales Rules for Writing – No One Kills a Messenger who Writes for Readers
  13. Cardinal Sin #1: Launching With No Content
  14. How Images Can Make Your Blog Post Demand to Be Read
  15. Writing a Good Business Blog
    by Dummies.com
  16. HOW TO: Create a Successful Company Blog
    by Venture Capitalist Mark Suster for Mashable
  17. Do You Know the Five Cornerstones of an Outstanding Business Blog?
    by David Hobart, Managing Director of Pure Content
  18. How to Hire a Great Web Writer, Copywriter, or Blogger
    What they do, What to look for, Where to look, What to ask.
  19. 10 Steps to Creating a Network of Guest Bloggers
  20. Paid Guest Blogging-Why Business Owners Must Hire Professional Bloggers
    The benefits of getting professional blogging help
  21. The #1 Conversion Killer in Your Copy (And How to Beat It)
  22. Blogging policy examples
    Sample policies – every company and blogger will have to modify them to meet their own needs
  23. IBM Social Computing Guidelines
    A great example for enterprise level policy
  24. 24 (of the) Best Business Blogging Guides, Tips and Tools of 2011
  25. The Most Important Blog Post You’ll Probaably Never Read

Take a look at the ones that answer the questions you’ve got right now. Then revisit this page to revisit it when the new questions come up tomorrow and the next day. You might also visit the New Business Blogger Page to find out more about building a successful business blog.

If you have great ideas or advice for starting up a Business Blog, tell us in the comments. If I get enough I’ll pull your comments together into a new post.

Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

What Makes a Successful and Outstanding Business Blog? 20 Links to 100s of Tips and Tools

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How to blog series

How to Blog as Business Strategy

cooltext455576688_blogging

In 2006, as a professional blogger, I established a NEW Blogger Page on Successful-Blog. I filled it with links to resources and advice for people starting a new blog. Yet, as my blog and my business kept growing and changing, the New Blogger Page moved to the background of what I did. Social media networks needed exploring. SOBCon and my own business were growing. New clients were taking the time I used to have for keeping the page in it’s most updated condition.

Yet my blog still supports me and my business endeavors, especially as content strategy, content marketing, and content management have all become critically important to every business. So I’ve decided to reinvest in the New Blogger Page with an eye how blogs fit with Successful Online Business Strategy today. I’ve read through the original links and spent hours researching more. Every link included is here because the content is important to succeeding.

New beginnings inspire and energize me.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be publishing new blog posts filled with resources for successful and outstanding bloggers today. This post is the first in that series.

20 Deep Content Links for Successful and Outstanding Business Bloggers

Whether you work at home, run a small business, or work for a 100,000 person corporation, if you’re about to begin blogging for business or just want to improve your efforts, earning and staying up with the tools, process, and vocabulary of blogging can be daunting. Having a survival kit of support resources to get your first words published can make that new beginning easier, faster, more meaningful and more lasting.

BigStock: I’ve pulled together these 20 Deep Content Links
that lead to hundreds of ideas, examples, and resources
to answer What Makes a Successful and Outstanding Business Blog.

Great Business Blogs to Read

Great bloggers read great blogs. Here’s where to find some to use to determine your own standards, to see what works with your potential audience, to begin relationships with other bloggers in your niche by commenting on their blogs.

  1. Understanding and Reading a Blog (for Newcomers) This entry is timeless, relevant content from John Dvorak..
  2. How to organize and read the blogs you like Setting up an RSS Reader
  3. 10 Top Business Blogs and Why They Are Successful
    SocialMedia Examiner highlights 10 Great Business Blog Models
  4. Top 50 Business Blogs by BlogRank
    Invesp.com’s deep blog rank directory built on a 20 criteria algorithm
  5. Blogging Business
    Best business blogs selected by Fast Company
  6. 10 Essential Business Blogs You Should Be Following
    FastupFront recommends 10 Great Business Blogs

What Makes a Successful and Outstanding Business Blog?

Advice from Successful and Outstanding Business Bloggers to share the culture, the best practices, and the “rules.”

  1. The Secret to a Successful and Outstanding Blog
    What made this blog successful.
  2. 101 Tips from 50 Small Business Bloggers
    AMEX Open Forum asked 50 of the Best
  3. “Online or Offline, this is the Key to Success.”
    The key ingredient via Chris Garrett.
  4. How to create a great website
    Website or blog, the principles are the same. Seth knows what he’s saying.
  5. 8 Top Pro Bloggers Answer One Important Question
    John Paul Aguiar asks What is the One thing bloggers need to do today to succeed that they didn’t have to do in the past?

    6. There are a multitude of definitions for success and many ways to define blogging.

  6. How to Build a Somewhat Successful Blog: 16 Lessons I Have Learned from the Positivity Blog
    Pay attention to success reported by smart bloggers in their first year.
  7. What Makes a Blog Successful?
    Readers know a lot about what makes a good blog tick.
  8. How to Build an Authority Blog: Tips from the Experts
    Understand what works. A successful blog is more investment than luck.
  9. What Really Makes A Successful Business Blog?
    Are you there to build your opportunity or to help people build theirs?
  10. How to write a successful business blog
    techradar with specific tips for successful business blogs
  11. 5 Reasons Why Business Blogs Fail
    A Checklist worth noting from Lee Odden’s TopRank Blog
  12. 7 Fatal Business Blogging Mistakes (And Easy Fixes!)
    Mistakes most every business blog makes
  13. Building Blocks for a Successful Business Blog
    by Better Business Blogging
  14. Drive a High Performance Blog and Watch Your Numbers Go Up
    The right fuel with the right driver can take a great blog to performance numbers that hit the top

After 5000+ blog posts, I can say this for certain …
If you don’t have a blog in your business strategy, your strategy has a gaping hole.
You’re missing a chance to connect with customers around your deepest and most useful expertise. You’re working right past the opportunity to show customers how you can make their work and their lives easier, faster, and more meaningful.

Easier, faster, more meaningful are irresistible.

Be irresistible
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

More updates to come.