Corporate blogs have become the hub for many social media intiatives. And, anyone who has a vested interest in a corporate blog knows it takes time and effort to produce a great blog - especially if it is the cornerstone for most of your corporation's social media content.

Here are my 'must-haves' for a successful corporate blog:

Blogger shows enthusiasm for his/her blog. If it's written to fill space, I can tell. I’m only interested in blogs that surprise, delight, amuse and inform offering a unique view into your organization.

The blog is well written. I read certain blogs because I not only enjoy reading them, but I’m truly getting information that is important to me – in a style of writing that is more conversational and with the bloggers point of view (good or bad) in mind.

The blog has links to other blogs, newsfeeds or other relevant information. I want to know that this blog is going to get me the next relevant click of information. I love resources, links back to other blogs and creditable information so that I can understand the bloggers opinion or slant.

The blog is updated regularly. There’s nothing worse than finding a great blog only to find out that the blogger blogs on a sporadic basis. I want a blog to be committed to me, the reader, by providing ongoing, updated content – especially if I have subscribed to their feeds.

The blog embraces comments and feedback. I welcome an opportunity to comment on content and provide my opinion on topics. More sophisticated blogs allows sign in and the ability to post comments making the blog very interactive and viral in nature. Corporations can reply (in kind) - especially to diffuse any negative connotation about the organization or its products and services.

The blog is properly tagged and categorized. Make it easy for me to move around your blog, clicking on other categories or relevant tags.

Great Blogging Resource at Amazon:

The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil

More Great Bloggers:

The Rules Behind Creating a Great Blog by Tom Hung, ProBlogger

27 Tips for Building a Kick-ass Blog by Ahmed Bilal

What Makes a Great Company Blog by Mack Collier

Best

Denice MacDonald

We’re all busy professionals trying to stay ahead of the curve – really not having all the time possible to keep up with all the knowledge related to Search Engine Optimization, Web Analytics and even Social Media.

Omniture has a timely blog covering all the bases – including input by numerous thought leaders within the organization.

And…if you’re specifically interested in social media – Omniture provides interesting and timely topics to help you chose the right social media platform.

Omniture makes it easy to stay connected – simply sign up via their RSS feed.

About Omniture - an Adobe Company

Omniture has over 120 consultants worldwide with teams dedicated to most major industries, including Retail, Media, Financial Services, High-Technology, Travel, and Automotive.

The organization has top cross-industry teams focused on Search Engine Marketing, and Test and Behavioral Targeting and their Omniture Digital team are the foremost experts in data-driven Creative Optimization.

To learn more, Contact Omniture.

Best  

Denice MacDonald

Those of us who have recently started blogging had to take a cue from someone - fortunately there are great bloggers out there to emulate. 

In a recent LinkedIn question set, a subscriber asked if any of us knew of great bloggers - that is, what makes certain bloggers so great, and what business people can learn from them. In my industry, I've come to learn that there are many bloggers out there who can slam out a well written techy-blog. BUT, there are few out there who can really capture the essence of a topic - giving it life and relevance to us 'day-to-day' business types. 

So to honor those great bloggers in my network - I've assembled a few of my favorites so that you can benefit from their wit, intelligence and content to make your business successful.

Jeremiah Owyang - describes himself as a Web Strategist who strives to define and deliver user and community needs, business goals, and web technology to craft and deliver long term successful web programs for companies. Jerimiah provides current insight into technology, technology use and delivery.  Take a look at his blog and decide for yourself.

August ("Augie") Ray - provides articles and insights about the way marketers craft experiences, both online and in the real world, and how these experiences shape consumers' relationships to brands. Augie provides colorful dialogue about business experiences in a way that helps guide us through our own brand issues.  His blog is a delight to read.

Social Media Today - has several established authors and is a moderated online business community for social media, bloggers, marketers, PR and media professionals. It provides the greatest depth in social media today - suffice the name. BTW - Augie blogs on this one too along with Charlene Li who co-authored "Groundswell" - winning in a world transformed by social technologies.

To find blogs in your industry to emulate - check out these award sites:

The Best of Blogs

Bloggers Choice Awards

The Weblog Awards

Best

Denice MacDonald

By 2012, more than 145 million people—67% of the US Internet population—will be reading blogs at least once a month.

That is up from a readership of 94 million in 2007, or 50% of Internet users. Click graphic for full article.

Caveat > The Ethics of Blogging: 

As we know, blogs are great for search engine optimization - but that should not be the only reason for creating a blog.  A blog is a reflection of your brand and your contribution to customers and other stakeholders.  A 'blog plan' should be formulated to insure that the content that is conveyed is relevant and proper for the end user. 

A plan would include educating management and training employees on creating and posting blogs so that emphase is placed on the organizations' attributes in product, marketing, PR, customer service, research, legal or HR. Likewise, blogs are a great recruiting tool as potential hires have an opportunity to look inside your organization and see the culture first hand.

Bottomline, your go-to-market strategy for blogging should be as well thought out as any significant communication initiative you may have for your organization - or it will diminish your brand and send customers packing.