Pest Management Professional, November 2015

Mobile pmp By Will Nepper Senior Editor Better business blogging Part II Editors Note This is the second part of a two part series about building an online business blog Please see PMPs October 2015 issue for Part I L ast month we defined what a blog is and offered a few tips about how you could harness its mighty marketing powers But whether youre new to the game or an established presence here are four more business blogging tips 1 ExplorE diffErEnt blog platforms WordPress Blogger and Webs com are all great and free places to start Several platforms will walk you through the process of designing your blog using templates to make it easier for newbies They also typically allow you to purchase a domain name given its available and not being used by someone else for a monthly or annual fee This means that instead of having a blog address that ends in something like wordpress net you can use a site address that ends in a simple com or net which will make it easier for your customers to find your blog As you become more comfortable with the mechanics of your blog you can transition into the hosts paid version that will remove their ads Each of the aforementioned platforms has its own approach to blog building which means each also has its own benefits and drawbacks Check them out and see which best suits your companys needs and dovetail with the rest of your companys online experience For example if someone on your staff knows HTML coding this frees up the opportunity to be even more creative than you could be when using a template alone Of the aforementioned platforms Webs com is best suited for providing readers with a clean professional looking blog This is not to say you cant make any of the other platforms look feel and navigate like a professional blog Pest Management Professionals PMPs blog pmppesttalk com uses a WordPress platform which thanks to our digital teams HTML prowess looks like a direct extension of our magazines site by retaining its feel and style This brings us to our next point 2 lEarn to intEgratE your blog with thE rEst of your companys onlinE prEsEncE Depending on your capabilities this could be as simple as linking to the blog from your company sites homepage or as advanced as rolling it into the actual site However its essential you make sure your customers and prospects can find your blog otherwise your efforts are for naught This leads us to 3 promotE your blog any way you can Include the URL in your print ads on your website and in your email signatures Cross pollination among your promotional materials is essential Many dont think of blogs as being promotional in nature because they associate them with casual communication The truth is though they can and should be both Link your website directly to your blog and vice versa As long as youre keeping your blog posts on topic theres no reason why your company cant communicate with its customers and prospects in a more casual voice than you might use on your website which keeps things professional and simple 4 iron out thE dEtails bEforE going livE Perhaps youll want to assign one employee to be your blogs sole contributor If so that person doesnt need a degree in English but the voice of your blog should project your companys professionalism Misspellings and grammatical errors are easy to police with a computers spell checker If youd like several employees to help generate content consider assigning a blog editor to serve as coordinator All blog posts can be filtered through this person who should develop and use a set of guidelines for blog posts and make sure the content received is relevant appropriate and free of errors Theres your primer Now get to blogging Youll be glad you did and you might just have a little fun pmp You can reach NEPPER at wnepper@ northcoastmedia net or 216 706 3775 Photo istock com AlexBrylov 66 November 2015 pest management professional mypmp net