Do you have what it takes to Blog?

Our company is called MondayMorning. This has no direct relevance to our working timeline apart from that it represents the start of the working week, for some a burden and to others a complete joy. Given it is Monday Morning right now it is appropriate that we should post a blog to recognise its arrival and within the hour, its departure. 

Blogging is about posting information that is relevant to your target market. It is a great medium because it can be more relaxed and conversational than other forms of business writing, but that is no excuse for being unprofessional, discourteous or too controversial (unless that is your goal in life then disregard everything I’ve said and go away). We have to be aware that this is a public forum and therefore accessible to known and unknown readers. This comes with certain responsibility and risk

This risk is not just to your personal image, but that of your colleagues and your brand. Just because it’s your opinion, or you think you are being clever doesn’t mean it’s acceptable to make it public (Remember the very recent incident with the Pizza franchise and the YouTube video). The great thing about Blogs (and most other forms of Social Media for that matter) is you do have the right of reply, administrator’s permissions and authority may apply of course and in some cases thankfully. If you like what someone says, tell them. If you disagree then say so too.

We are seeing evidence that Blogs are replacing traditional newsletters, and in time perhaps newspapers and other media. I follow about a dozen blogs currently. I use Google Reader to keep track of them so it saves time having to visit each one individually. I choose blogs because their content is relevant to me. I learn new things, I am entertained because I like the writers style, or I am keeping track on what a person or an organisation are doing from day to day. When they are no longer relevant I will remove them from the list and move on. 

If you’ve got something to say and you want to share it, start a blog now. Try to keep it populated with regular updates (once a week is fine). You will grow in confidence, and find your unique writing style, and eventually someone may even read it.