It is all right to let people talk about what they want to talk about. You should only censor obscenities and defamation. Let your customers speak to you directly and grow your business. Don't try to use your blog as another form of advertising. Blogs not be treated like newspaper ads or brochures. Your customers will see through corporate spin. The less you worry about creating a perfect copy more honest your message will sound. That of course doesn't mean that you shouldn't write professionally but make sure you worry about the content.
Don't ever use your blog to praise yourself. If your company does a good job your customers will take care of that. If you sell quality products your customers will be eager to spread the word. Be ready for negative feedback too. Companies must be willing to accept unfiltered feedback. Receiving honest customer feedback can be a humbling experience, but it is part of growing your business.
When you blog you have two audiences. Your most important audience is your website visitor, hopefully your future customer. Your other audience is the search engines. Without the search engines your customers would not be able to find your blog. So, your blog will not only have to be interesting but it has to be structured correctly too. For example, it's important to write headlines and subheads with key words that can be crawled by search engines.
The key element of business blogs is interactivity. Blogs can function as online diaries, news outlets, training tools, or standard communication platforms. While most blogs are textual many contain audio and video.
Real world example: An accountant may create a video blog dedicated to educating her clients about the most recent tax codes. Blog videos are usually short clips. Such service would differentiate the business owner from the competition, and it would build credibility.
The blog movement is the epitome of Web 2.0 technology where interactivity is of paramount importance. Blogs are not here to replace any part of your business; they are to compliment it in its entirety. You could use your blog to engage your employees or announce the details of your latest product line. Anything and everything you ever wanted to communicate to your customers can become part of it.
