Engaging the Blogosphere

Hypothetical situation: I am advising a small bathroom décor store on how to blog.

I would advise the store to market itself as being THE place to come when people are looking for the latest and greatest styles as they are decorating their bathrooms. I would encourage them to stay on top of the popular trends in other parts of the country and other parts of the world as well. By keeping up with the most current trends in bathroom décor, this store could play an active role in being one of the first sources to alert people of the new styles. Even if they don’t have the products in stock just yet, many consumers will remember that this store brought this information to their attention and will think to make this store one of their first visits.

Especially during these tough economic times, people also want to know that they are paying reasonable prices for merchandise. The store could also utilize their blog to demonstrate that they are selling the newest bathroom décor at lower prices than their competitors. Who wouldn’t want to update their bathroom and get a great deal at the same time?

Best Practices for Blogging

• Blog about something you like. The more interested and passionate you are about what you are writing about, the more successful your blog will be.

• Be active. Send your blog posts out to other social networking sites, put links to your blog into your online profiles, keep up with and comment on other people’s blogs, try to connect with other bloggers interested in the same topics, and respond to others in a timely manner.

• Integrate the blogging community. Link back to other blog posts, get to know bloggers who write about the same subject matter, be aware of who is reading your blog and make certain to address issues of concern to them, and maybe even let more than one person write for the blog.

• Be interesting. Make it clear to people what you are writing about, consider your blog a selling strategy, and integrate different forms of media.