We hear about people getting great results from blogs, yet many professionals new to blogging aren't getting the results they want or expected. Why is that?
People will naturally focus on whatever they feel most comfortable with their blog. If a professional likes writing, they'll focus their time and energy on the blog content.
If they are technically inclined, they might focus on the design of the blog, or search engine optimization.
To be really effective, though, there are four critical elements that must be in place to have a great business blog:
1. Content
2. Outreach
3 . Design
4. Action
You must pay at least some attention to all four areas. For example, if design isn't your forte, you still need to carefully consider the placement of your subscription form, which widgets you use, which are distracting, and how to have a nice, clean layout.
Likewise, you might love the techie side of things, but not feel confident about your writing skills. There are myriad sources of content for your blog and you need to have an editorial plan to be successful.
Not participating in the blogosphere may limit your ability to drive more traffic and no call to action will result in few real results. You can see, to ignore any of these four areas is to leave your blog vulnerable to underperforming and potential failure.
We were recently interviewed about how to avoid business blog failure. You can listen to a replay of the blogging program here.



Thank you for continually giving me insightful, helpful and well-spoken messages.
Posted by: Barbara Hauck | Sunday, January 27, 2008 at 09:45 AM
I see so many blogs that are suffering from the blues... it's a shame, especially after the investment and enthusiasm that went into them at the start.
I guess many bloggers get overwhelmed by the number of things they 'need' to do, or like you say, end up focusing on one dimension rather than another... so I'm sure CODA will work as a simple reminder of four things you can do to bring your blog back to life.
Great stuff!
Joanna
Posted by: Blog Angel Team (Joanna) | Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 01:59 AM
I can totally understand how a blog can get the blues. For a long time, I was feeling overwhelmed with all that I had to learn to bring my skills up to a reasonable level. You really do need to be multiskilled with blogging... and if you can't do something you need to learn how to do it... or give it to someone else to do.
Jeanne
htt://www.goalsnaspirations.com
Posted by: Jeanne May | Friday, February 01, 2008 at 06:51 PM