Top Ten Guerrilla Blogging Strategies #1

You’ve decided to join the 21st century and start a blog, eh? You’d better buckle up as you’re in for a wild ride.

Let's dive right into the Top Ten Guerrilla Blogging Strategies Number 1 …

Purpose and Focus

Before you set out on your blogging journey you must first have a specific purpose and a clear idea (focus) of what your business blog should be.  Answering these questions will help you generate some ideas.

• What is your blog about? 
• What do you want your blog to accomplish? 
• What is it supposed to DO for your business? 
• What message do you want to give to your visitors? 
• What will your company's "voice" be?  Authoritative? Formal? Informal? Chummy? Over the top?
• What kind of response are you expecting?  Lot's of comments? No comments?

For example, your company is Acme Shoestrings.  Would your blog be about butterflies?  Of course not.  So your company, Acme Shoestrings, will be building a blog called "On A Shoestring."  This is where staffers and visitors can discuss shoestrings and the design and technology behind shoestring manufacture. 

Maybe you'll have a forum that breaks conversational topics out to help keep things from getting confusing; or possibly you'll build a photo gallery where customers can submit photos of unique uses of ACME Shoestrings. 

Best of all, you'll be providing a place for your visitors to write reviews of your product.  Some internet marketing sources have shown that nearly 80% of consumers give weight to reviews of products in their purchase considerations! 

Secondarily, giving your customers the opportunity to critique your products in a non-challenging manner gives you great insight into the future of your products.  You'll be able to react more quickly to negative reviews and change your product accordingly.

But, what is the blog supposed to DO?

There are several things they want their blog to do and this short list might include …

• primarily increase brand identity,
• acquire new customers,
• develop an email list, and
• generally build traffic to their main website where customers can purchase shoestrings.

Niching is Good

Notice my example is seems to be narrowly targeted.  Shoestrings.  If you have no idea what your blog is about your content will become a wild mess of incongruous posts that will do nothing to build your visitor count.  If you build a blog about shoestrings do not talk about butterflies or politics or grandma’s chicken soup; unless, of course, it's about building a butterfly net with shoestrings, tying up politiciancs with shoestrings, or about how you put shoestrings in grandma's chicken soup when you were three.

The most successful blogs are those that have a very specific niche.  If you are an Apple fan and want to have a blog about Apple and its products, that’s good … but you’ll be joining approximately 102,300 other blogs about Apple!  If you want your blog to stand out then niche it.  Make yours the iPhonologist.com and talk only about the iPhone and its 40,000 (and counting) applications, customizing the iPhone, usage tips, repairing, unique uses and more.  Now you have a very specific target for content and visitors.

If you love dolls, don’t just have a doll blog make a blog about vintage dolls; or better, repairing vintage dolls … or even better than that … a blog about repairing vintage Shirley Temple dolls!