Advice on Professional Weblogs

By leelefever on August 21, 2003 - 9:39am.

• Categories:
• Weblogs and Business
• Comments: 2

A reader recently contacted me and said he was thinking about starting a professionally-related website (possibly a weblog) that would be a source of discussion and information for folks in his particular niche. He also mentioned that he'd like to eventually build an online community around his site.

I replied with some thoughts about how I thought he should go about getting started. I think there are a lot of folks out there considering making moves in this direction and I thought I'd post the points I gave this person here in case anyone else is interested...

This is my advice based on what you wrote...

• Know your niche- figure out what the folks in your niche are most concerned about and try to provide something they need.

• Get your voice out there- doing all the great things you mention may require some up-front "community building". I'd start a weblog that focuses on the issues in your niche. Tell your friends and colleagues once you get going. If there are any related online communities, post links to your blog in the discussion forums when you've written something interesting. If there are related weblogs- post comments on them that link to your site. Your goal is to get people to your blog so they can get to know you, your goals and way of thinking. These are the building blocks of your future community.

• Organize your weblog posts into categories related to the niche you've defined. Be true to the niche.

• You talk about filters and pushing the content out. RSS is great for this. Almost any blog platform has an RSS feed pre-installed. Make sure your readers know how to use it. Here's my shot at an explanation. Also, you can start a great blog in like 10 mins using a brand new product from the folks that created MovableType- called TypePad.

• Offer weekly email updates to the readers of your blog. These don't have to be fancy- just a weekly email that is written in your voice- be personal- have fun- keep people engaged. Do these emails responsibly of course- make unsubing easy, etc.

• Once you have some dedicated readers, you have an "audience". Then you can look at ways to offer this audience resources over and above your blog- remembering the needs you perceive in the niche. Maybe you add discussion forums, maybe you invite people to help you co-author the weblog. Ask them what they think would be valuable and give it to them.

• Start small- my personal opinion is that baby-steps are key. Get started quietly while you get the system down and feel comfortable posting to the blog. Don't be over-anxious to promote the site in the beginning- it may turn people away too soon. Develop some content first so folks can get a comprehensive feel for what you're trying to accomplish.

Of course, I have to say that all this depends on your ultimate goals. The points above relate to building a community of peers around your web site. This will take time and may make you little or no money- especially in the short term. However, I believe that if you can build a community around yourself and/or your company, the possibilities are limitless.