Internet Blogs: What Do I Say? How And When Do I Write It?

Lets get real here: everyone in business agrees that Internet blogs, especially business Internet blogs, are an essential part of your corporate website. However, not a lot of business owners, even CEOs, seem to understand the why or the when of Internet blogging. You can pretty much tell this as soon as you visit their websites: the blogs will be off in a corner, have an unappealing title like our corporate blog, have few visitors and consist of articles that are basic rewrites of their advertising: Quality value affordable service selection and on and on.

The whole purpose of an Internet blog, however, is to make a connection with the public buyers out there, and in a way thats much more personal and (this really is the right word) intimate than anything else out there that sells anything to anybody.

Your website exists to sell and to make money. You know it, but more importantly, your customers also know it. They had to plow through a plateful of spam just to get to their emails today, and if they didnt, they have a spam blocker, which means whoever wrote those spam pieces to insert as ads in their emails might just as well have stayed in bed.

Its a fact that more and more corporations are waking up to: people on the Internet recognize ads, and resist them. It doesnt matter that you have all your keywords in place; if your Internet blogs look like ads, or read like them, they get ignored.

So what do you write?

Your thoughts, right now.

There is nothing as irresistible to a reader as to get a peek at someone elses thoughts at the moment they have them, even if in life those thoughts might be jealously guarded. Theres nothing that establishes a connection faster than a writer who connects with a reader because his thoughts are shared, personal and relatable.

If youre thinking about the day you started this company, or what youre going through keeping it going in this economy, or planning something astonishing and new that isnt even in tangible form yet, share all those thoughts.

Do NOT write thoughts about your stunning new product line that JUST came out and is SUCH a great deal, because guess what that sounds like? And guess how many people will actually read it?

OK, now. Can we make a quick recommendation as to the best time to write a blog? End of the day.

Thats when your thoughts are at their most reflective, when youre tired of selling and just want to be human, and your blog is nothing but communication to others. People eat that up, and they respond to it as they respond to nothing else.

Thats why people check out your website. They are looking to connect. They are looking for a recognizable human voice who is sharing ideas, thoughts and feelings.

So blog your thoughts, whatever they are. Do it at the end of the day. And whatever you do, dont plan what to say. Just say it.

When it comes to Internet blogs, you have to get real.