Creating your own blog is one of the best ways of building your personal brand. Just like all social networking sites a blog can build you or break you depending on what content is contained in your blogsite. While it does not help your business much blogging about unimportant social affairs, blogging about your area of expertise goes a long way in building your brand. It goes without saying that extreme care must be taken on what is posted on your blog and the comments on your blog must also be carefully analyzed to ensure they are not offending or inappropriate.
Creating company blogs allows companies interact closely with their customers as it affords a personalized communication which is absent with the use of e-mail and other forms of communication which are more formal than the use of blogs.
A Blog allows companies to keep customers updated on the latest products and is a great advertising tool. It allows companies to respond to customer needs appropriately as customers feel freer to comment on issues affecting them. Blogs are also very cheap to start and very easy to manage even for the bloggers who are technologically challenged. Blogs can also be structured to attain a goal of targeting only specific customers. It is dangerous to leave your blog open to all and sundry due to the kind of interactions that take place on blogs. Malicious people can post very damaging content on your blog, which would actually be counterproductive to your goals.
Although creating a blog may seem easy, there are various issues a blogger must consider before creating the blog. First is the website host. Blogs are hosted by various websites and it is important to choose the host carefully. It is better to go for a website host whose goals are more or less aligned to your blog site goals. If you are creating a blog on interior design then it is better to be hosted by an interior design website. Also consider your hosts rating and popularity. A well ranked host means that automatically your blog will also be easily accessed by users.
An important point for consideration is your blog’s name, contents and target. All the three should be geared towards the same goal. Once you have found a host and have an idea about your blog, then it is important to read carefully through the terms and use of the host. This is because once agreed to they become legally binding. Some of the things to look out for are ownership of material. It would be unfortunate to expend your resources to the blog only for all the content on your blog to be owned by the host.
Having a blog does not allow you to write anything and everything, and you will have to be accountable for what you have posted on your blog. A few legal issues must be considered when posting content on your blog.
Defamation or libel must be avoided at all costs. Defamation occurs when you make a false statement about an organization or a person. You must ensure you have your facts right before publishing anything in your blog. The users must also be restricted and monitored to ensure they post only factual statements. Avoid getting personal and biased in your posting especially if it’s a company blog. That is not only defamatory but also may give your company a very bad image. Avoid making treasonable statements….that could land you in serious trouble. Keep your blog as neutral as possible.
Bloggers should also be wary of all issues pertaining to intellectual property copyright. Plagiarism must be avoided at all costs. Unauthorized use of someone else’s material must be avoided. It is common for people to copy and paste information onto their blogs and then invite comments from the public. This is very dangerous if the material in question has subsisting copyright over it. If you can, contact the copyright owner, if not, make it clear that whatever is on your blog belongs to somebody else. Respect everyone’s intellectual property.
The position of anonymous blogging is worth noting. If it is a company blog…an anonymous blog will not help much. If you really have to blog anonymously, choose a sensible name. Most people create controversial blogs thinking that they can behind their pen names. But the truth is that your website host depending on the terms of use, can disclose your true identity. The position of anonymous users must also be considered. It is advisable to have all users execute a contact form before they are allowed to use your blog. That way, in the event of damages the real culprits can be followed up.
Blogging is relatively new but very widely used…you might want to consider this for your business.