Blogging gives businesses an incredibly effective and measurable vehicle to connect with consumers and build relationships online, while generating Website traffic, inbound links and leads.

And while there are more than 112,000,000 blogs published today, the vast majority of businesses have yet to harness the power of corporate blogging.

So let’s take an introductory look at the blogging tools you need to effectively monitor, participate and publish.

1) Blog Search Sites

Blog search sites, such as Technorati and Google Blog Search, give you the ability to discover blogs in your industry, and find out what other influentials are blogging about.

Simply enter keywords for your industry and/or expertise (e.g. public relations), and see who’s out there and what they’re saying.

 

 

2) Really Simple Syndication (RSS) Feeds

According to Forrester[1], only 8% of consumers use RSS feeds, so if you don’t know what they are or how to use them, then you’re not alone.

RSS feeds are sort of like wire services for Websites with frequently updated content. The feeds are transmitted from a host site (e.g. a blog, chat group, news site), and received by your RSS feed reader (see #3 for description), giving you the ability to consume enormous amounts of information from dozens, or even hundreds of sources, without having to spend hours surfing the Web, watching TV and reading newspapers.

3) RSS Feed Readers

RSS feed readers make it incredibly simple and efficient to monitor content updates from across the Web. All you have to do is create a free account on one of the leading readers — Netvibes, Google Reader, NewsGator — and start subscribing to RSS feeds from your favorite sites.

Check out a demo Netvibes site we’ve created featuring blogs from presenters at the 2008 Inbound Marketing Summit:

4) Google News Alerts

Google News Alerts is a free tool that makes it possible to monitor an unlimited number of keywords and phrases. It takes 10 seconds or less to set up an alert, and then Google delivers updates right to your email inbox.

You should consider monitoring your company name with variations (e.g. PR 20/20, pr2020, PR 2020), key executives, priority keywords, competitors, events and products/services.

5) Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious and Reddit, give you the ability to find and share great content.

You’ll be amazed at the volume of Website traffic that can be generated when you create great content on your blog, and it gets shared to one of these popular sites.

Get started by creating a profile on one of these sites, then begin exploring.

6) Blogging Platforms

When you decide it’s time to join the blogosphere as a publisher, selecting your blogging platform is one of the most important decisions you’ll make, so do your homework.

Wordpress, Typepad and Hubspot offer some of the more robust blog publishing tools, so that’s a good place to start looking. Here are a few features you’ll want to be sure are included in the platform you choose:

• Simple RSS and email subscription
• Social media integration
• Technical & community support
• Search by categories
• Tagging and search by tags
• Pinging services
• Multiple authors
• Custom URL with your own domain

7) Search Engine Optimization

Sharing great content and insight with your readers is rewarding on its own, but if you’re serious about building your business too, you’ll want to optimize your blog for search engines.

At minimum, check out Google’s Keyword Tool to see what keywords people are searching for, and then try to tailor some of your posts to the wants and needs of your audiences.

For example, based on our inbound marketing software (we use Hubspot) keyword analysis, I know that a good amount of people are looking for information on “public relations trends,” so we regularly publish content related to those keywords.

8) Microblogging Platforms

Microblogging platforms like Twitter are exactly what they sound like: tiny blogging tools.  Another form of social networking, Twitter works like so: You set up a profile, find people you know (or find interesting) and follow them. You then receive each of your new friends’ 140-character-or-less updates, and anyone that follows you gets yours.
 
Since people who follow you are most likely interested in what you have to say, you can “tweet,” or send an update, when you post a new blog article.  Just another way to promote your content and drive relevant traffic from people who are clearly active in social media.


Stay tuned for more Blogging for Business posts, and check out our presentation at the 2008 Inbound Marketing Summit.



[1] US: Forrester's North American Social Technographics Online Survey, Q2 2007, 10,010 respondents.