So, did you ask yourself if a blog is the right thing for your company? Is it a solution that will boost your business instead of being a resource consumer? If so, it’s time to find out what options are there in terms of positioning a corporate blog.

Each company has its specific communication needs. Based on said needs and other established targets, a newly launched company blog can help achieve specific goals, such as:

• Becoming an alternative, and dynamic method to publish content;
• Positioning employees as thought leaders and experts in their respective fields;
• Building a community around a company, product or service;
• Boosting sales;
• Encouraging customers to send their feedback;
• Speeding up customer service;
• Gaining you exposure through both new and traditional (print press, radio, TV) media;
• Positioning you as a trendy company that keeps up with new technologies;
• Becoming and effective channel for crisis communication;
• Supporting your HR efforts by offering an “alternative” look at your team and thus attracting new job applications;
• Helping your company rank higher for specific search phrases and attracting new backlinks.

It’s highly recommended to establish a set of complementary goals. If a company manages to focus on and reach its main goals, the adjacent targets will also be achieved at the same time.

Here are a couple of examples of complementary goal sets:

• Building a community + boosting sales + attracting feedback
• Positioning yourself as a thought leader + building a community + gaining media exposure

Other chapters of the Corporate Blogging Guide

Chapter 1: Introduction to Blogging
Chapter 2: Critical Questions Before Launching a Corporate Blog
Chapter 3: Setting up Goals and Blog Positioning (current)
Chapter 4: Types of Corporate Blogs
Chapter 5: Blog Editors & Editorial Policy
Chapter 6: Blogging Tips to Get You Started
Chapter 7: Blog Performance Tracking Tools

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

For me, the best thing about blogging is that it stands for who I am, it’s a part of me, and I get to call the shots. I’ve always enjoyed writing, but my career has led me in another direction. Even so, when blogs showed up, it became clear that it was my chance to run an online publication. And since it’s a one man show, I like to think of myself as a Blogger in Chief.

Over what, you might ask, since there’s no editorial team? Over my blog, my templates, my plugins, my ideas, decisions have to be made daily in order to achieve the goals I’ve set for myself.

Opportunity rising

The toughest challenge for a blogger is to keep up, especially when doing it part-time, besides having a day job and also a social life. Staying updated with such a huge volume of information circulating the blogosphere and most important, filtering it, it’s not the easiest thing to do, yet it must be done in order to give yourself the chance to spot every opportunity that rises.

But spotting an opportunity is not enough, action is required. And when it comes to making things happen, I like to think of bloggers as avant-gardists, ready to accept any challenge, to explore every possible route.

After all, you’re in charge, you need to take responsibility and make a decision. What do you want to achieve with your blog? Where do you want to see your blog in 6 months from now, how a bout in a year, or two? These goals don’t just happen, and if you fail to take action, you might regret it for a very long time.

Sure, you need to analyze all possible endings for a situation that you encounter, but in the end (preferably sooner than later) you need to decide upon what you want to accomplish and what’s the best way to do so. There’s no gray, it’s only black and white, as one of my favorite movie characters said:

“Do or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back

The motivational trap

In a past article, I’ve told you that for a successful blogger, I find defining the capability of self evaluation, but as one of my readers noticed, it’s one defining characteristic for being successful in any field.

The biggest trap you can fall in is not evaluating yourself at the right value. As I was once said to my father: “I know who I am and what I can do, but in order to achieve 100% of that, I need to aim higher.” Know your value, but set the bar higher. By forcing yourself to touch it, you’ll most probably achieve at least your own top level, and who knows, maybe even go beyond. Life is our constant teacher, and with it, our value will increase.

Are you ready to be in charge?

You’d better, because opportunity won’t come back by your door if you’re not at home. When you see it, take action. Be that successful blogger you’ve always wanted to become, and remember one thing:

You call the shots!

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Seriously, you don’t want to make money blogging, not from the start. If this is the goal that you’ve set for your blog, then it should be your ultimate goal; not your first, not your second, but last!

What you need is a step by step strategy.
What you want is to set goals that are realistic, tangible. Goals that are not only meant to get you closer to your ultimate goal, but also help you become better, become a PRO.

Start by looking at the source

Money does not fall out of the sky. Money comes from your readers, through clicks and affiliate programs, through reviews, through advertising, which you won’t get without a strong readership / traffic.

So, your primary goals should be about making yourself heard, making a name for yourself, becoming an authority.

Think big, but plan in small steps

Let’s say that by the end of the first 6 months of blogging, you would want to have at least 1000 RSS subscribers. 6 months is a long period of time and many things could happen. So, don’t worry about those 6 months, worry about your first month. Think about how to get your first, let’s say 20-30 subscribers. Think about how to gather natural, organic, targeted traffic to your blog. And if you achieve your first goal, try harder next month.

From month to month, raise the bar until you get closer to your target. I’m sure that you’ll find it a lot easier and sometimes even more rewarding than thinking on how to get 1000 subscribers from day one. You might even end up with more than you’ve initially planned.

Why is it important to develop a plan with more, smaller stages? Because strategies will fail you. Rest assured, they will; and it’s always better to lose a battle than the war. By making a mistake in stage one, you allow yourself to learn from it and not repeat it in stage two.

Remember, think big

Are you serious about blogging? Then, the ultimate purpose seams a bit like an ongoing one. Set your mind on being the better blogger, and if you achieve this goal, making money will follow.

“Wealth, like happiness, is never attained when sought after directly.
It comes as a by-product of providing a useful service.”
Henry Ford (1863 – 1947)

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive