How to Keep a Professional Blog Professional

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By classicalgeek
User-Submitted Article

Article Rating: (3 Ratings)

You know the drill--you decided to start a blog for your business, and before you know it, you've succumbed to all the memes going around, your page is filled with adsense and blinking widgets, and suddenly your professional blog is more about you and recipes and 10 favourite movies than it is about your business. Then your message is diluted and while family and friends may be visiting, you're not getting any new business from your hard work. So let's clean up that blog and get it back on track!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Two blogs: one personal, one professional
Time
Discipline
Computer
Internet connection

Step 1

If you don't have a personal blog, create one.
Step 2

Remove all the adsense, widgets, etc. from your professional blog. If you need to earn money from your personal blog, that's fine. But your professional blog should be only about your business. Don't feature someone else's business except as mentioned below.
Step 3

Decide what your focus will be. For example, will you post about research in your field that will make people want to use your product or service? Will you post news stories, product reviews, experiences with clients, or something else? Find something that is appropriate for your business and stick to that thing only.
Step 4

Decide on a posting schedule. For a professional blog, once or twice a week is plenty of new content. If you find you have content piling up, and enough time, switch to a more frequent schedule, but make a commitment and keep it!
Step 5

Your professional blog can be a combination of blog pages and static pages like a website. Update or create your "About [Name]" page to reflect you professionally.
Step 6

Create a testimonials page. Ask your clients to write a review and email it to you. Tell them you will be posting it on your site and make sure to get their permission. At the end of the page, make sure there's a link to your "Book Now!" link in the next step.
Step 7

If your business or service takes appointments, consider an online booking tool like clickbook. In your sidebar, have a link to your online booking page with anchor text like "Book your appointment now!" (See resources.)
Step 8

If you sell your products on Amazon, Etsy, or another affiliate store, or your clients will need products sold on Amazon, create an Amazon or Etsy or other store and have one link to it on your sidebar. If you do a product review, link to the product from text in your blog entry, and nowhere else. Remember, you don't want to dilute your message!
Step 9

Prune your blogroll. Your friends' blogs go on your personal blog. If you're a handyman with a blog, and you routinely partner with a local electrician who has a blog, then by all means include that blog on your blogroll. If you find a great professional blog and you have a local business, and your businesses don't overlap but their information will drive business to you, by all means add them to your blogroll.
Step 10

If you find a widget that makes sense, such as a tag cloud, you may add that back in. Don't add too many widgets, and nothing blinking or flashing, and make sure that your widget adds value to your blog, does not distract people from your message, and provides information that is relevant and will drive people to buy your product or service.
Step 11

Prune your blog postings. Move anything not business-related to your personal blog. Send an email to your subscribers and let them know where to find all those recipes, family photos, etc.
Step 12

Edit your previous blog postings. Each posting should have a byline that links to your "About" page, and where appropriate, don't forget to include that link to "Book now!"

How to Keep a Professional Blog Professional

Things You'll Need:

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