Blog to Attract Readers

Fortune 500 company CEOs automatically have an audience of customers, competitors, shareholders, Wall Street analysts, press and so on. Starting a blog is more about strategy and voice, than about marketing and attracting readers. For small company CEOs it’s a different story. Why blog every day if no one is reading it?

Blogging is a live, ongoing conversation which completely changes the dynamic between a CEO and customers. It’s virtually impossible to interact regularly with every customer, but a blog that enables comments, polling, and blog post ratings, encourages customers and prospects to offer an opinion. These interactions help develop a relationship, and they are filled with interesting data points which often drive CEOs to blog even more.

Blogs inform in a way we can only partially control. A CEO’s personality comes across as they write. And readers comment adding to the conversation. A small company CEO blog is all about building an audience to increase your sphere of influence. So marketing your blog is as important as writing your blog.

Here are some simple ways to market your blog:

1. Make sure your blog is listed in all relevant blog listings, and submitted to blog search sites
2. Add tags that describe your blog so that it pops up in search results
3. Focus your blog on a subject or dynamic that is higher level than your products or services to attract a broader audience
4. Invite guest bloggers or interview interesting personalities to spice up your blog
5. Get a blidget from Widgetbox to syndicate your blog as a widget so others can run it on their website, blog, or desktop
6. Note your blog on your email signature, text message signature, business cards, and on your website
7. Refer to your blog in customer meetings, at conferences, and in speeches
8. When used as a resource by the press, reference you blog along with your title and contact information