1 Comment Written by Andrew Bonar on December 1, 2008 – 4:09 pm

Forgive me if I go over old ground here, however the importance of blogging, the benefits and rewards means I feel compelled to cover this topic. Blogs have been around for over 5 years and as a result a whole industry has built up around them, and we have even coined new words such as ‘blogosphere’ to describe this massive phenomenom.

Originally, blogs were highly personal in nature, maintained by highly opinionated or verbose individuals with something to say. Sometimes this was focused on a particular subject but more often than not they just followed the whimsical choices of the blog’s author.

Since ‘joe public’ so readily adopted the blog format, commercial organizations have spotted the marketing potential for their products and services through others blogs. We have even seen born a niche-advertising sector, offering delivery through widgets and the like.

We then saw the advent of professional bloggers, those blogging for profit, and there have been a number of success stories. More often than not individuals gained financial reward as a result of being offered work in the mainstream media. It has however only been a relatively recent occurrence for business to realize the potential of launching company blogs for marketing potential.

Blogging is a practice that has been around for at least 5 years. It began with average, but opinionated people with something to say, who wanted to share their opinions with anyone who would read them. While it has been popular with the general public, it hasn’t caught on with many businesses until recently. Blogging can be a powerful tool for marketing and exposure for any business, if done properly. This article will cover the first steps businesses will need to take to set themselves up for successful blogging.

Setting Up Your Blog

The benefits should be obvious - a well written blog that is regularly updated attracts targeted visitors, that will often become subscribers, resulting in a highly targeted marketing channel aimed directly at your niche.

To get started, your first step is to choose a blogging platform, and here you have two initial choices:

1. You can choose to install blog software on your own server - ie Wordpress.org;
2. You can go for a free or cheap hosted solution with the blogging company - ie Blogger.com.

The benefits of the hosted solution is the fact that it is very quick to get up and running. The downside is less control, and you often do not have your own domain name.

If you choose to host your own blog then which application you install will depend very much on which additional functionality you would like to see on your blog. I highly recommend WordPress. If your web host has a control panel (and which web host does not offer one these days?), then most will include an ability to auto-install a blog. Usually this includes or is WordPress. It can sometimes be a little confusing as they will not always call it WordPress - for instance, Globat calls it GloBlog, but it is indeed WordPress.

Visual Design, Look and Feel of Your Site - Install a Template

Once you have installed WordPress or another blog application (and this should be a one-click operation on the vast majority of shared webhosting providers) the first thing you will need to do is configure your blog, and that will be done through a web based control panel. The next big step is the design, or skin, or template, of your blog - basically, the visual design of your site.

You will need to find a template to use or customize, and ideally this will not be one that came with the default installation, as there will be literally a million other sites with the same design. Stylish blog design generally follows the same format, and this is part of what makes them so popular. Through the years designers know what good, usable design is, so when you pick a brand new blog for the first time, the interface is familiar.

So, What Do You Write?

Finally, we come to your content, the single most important factor in the success of your blog. It is important that you regularly update your site, so if you do not have the resources to maintain your blog there is little point in getting started. It is not like a regular web site, where to some degree you can ’set and forget’ it. You need to begin a conversation with your viewers.

Whenever you create and post content, your article becomes syndicated to your viewers and various blogging channels. This ability is known as RSS, and some would say this is the single most powerful feature of your blog, and the reason for the success of this tool. With RSS, you can quickly and easily spread your message around the world - everybody who is subscribed to your blog will receive a notification, either in their reader or via email.

If you do not have time to constantly update your blog, there are shortcuts you can take. You do not have to write (or have written) lengthy, original articles - such as the one you are reading now - to have a popular and well trafficked blog. There exists another style of blogging, and this is the collection of news, articles and snippets from around the web, centered on a single topic. Blogs often collate such information, offering comment and analysis relevant to their readers. You can simply read and collect the RSS feeds from other blogs and place them on your site, commenting on them in your own site, reviewing any new products, etc. Many bloggers have large followings basically because they are skilled at finding interesting topics from other sites and saying “Hey, check this out!”

Whichever route you take, you can be assured of success if you stick with a formula of regularly updated, and high quality content that is relevant to your readers (i.e. your customers). Once your blog is up and running you will have started a truly organic marketing vehicle, and you will not have to concern yourself too highly with keywords and the like as they will naturally happen as a result of your attempts to deliver relevant information.

If you have not already launched your first blog then now really is the time to do so. StylishDesign.com will have a number of upcoming articles and features that will help you along the way - so check back soon!