Business blogging tips and news for professional bloggers

Thought I'd give you some of my thoughts on the new Kapalua Resort corporate blog to go with my review of the official blog of its parent company, Maui Pineapple. (Here's the press release for the Kapalua blog.)

3 things I like:

Blog Content - It's clear from the outset that the purpose of the Kapalua business blog is to share Kapalua news and travel information. (I didn't know that golf's Mercedes-Benz Championship takes place in Kapalua! Sweet.) That's a huge key to business blogging success - that you make the purpose of your company blog clear right away.

Blog Design - Great URL - simple and clear. Friendly masthead that captures a few scenes from Kapalua. I love minimalist looks in blog designs - less is usually more for the reader.

Blog Community - Young but starting to grow. Comments are enabled and I'm sure they'll add more social media functions (Digg, StumbleUpon, del.icio.us, etc.) in the future. The important thing is that the conversation is open and free to flow.

1 suggestion for improvement:

A photo/video gallery with lots of juicy Kapalua images would be an awesome addition. Would help people get pulled in to the beauty of the area even more.

Conclusion:

Good job to the Kapalua blog team. Along with Maui Pineapple's blog, it shows that business blogging is here to stay and continues to mature.

3 things I like:

Blog Content - Who can resist the sweet tang of fresh pineapples? Okay, seriously - I like the content of this corporate blog. It's friendly. The images are mouth-watering. And I find the content to be genuine-sounding.

Blog Design - The colors and three-colum layout remind me of a newspaper or newsletter, which is good because the site's name is Pineapple News and it deals mainly with pineapple-related news and buying advice. The layout is fairly simple, which helps the reader focus on the content without getting distracted by lots of flashy "buy our pineapples" links. The hard sell is losing strength on the Web anyway.

Blog Community - By allowing comments, the Maui Pineapple folks have taken a step forward in their corporate history. It's great to see them doing this. It's also good to see links in the right sidebar to recent comments and to relevant social networking links. Corporate blogging needs to be part of the global conversation going on about companies.

1 suggestion for improvement:

As soon as possible, it would be great to add author name(s) and bio(s) to the About page and a link to them in post bylines.

Conclusion:

I like the Maui Pineapple blog. It's off to a tasty start.

We've just added a Social Media column to the chart on the front page at the Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki at Socialtext.

Will you please help us add to the chart?

I have a dream that dozens of us business bloggers will come together to make light work of researching all Fortune 500 companies and compiling an accurate, up-to-date picture of what they are doing with blogs and other "social media" (wikis, file/video/link sharing sites, etc.). By the end of this year.

John, we've got our work cut out for us, haven't we?

I would almost send you chocolate if you helped. That's how much I would appreciate you.

Here's a quick sponsored message on behalf of the folks at Empire Promos, which makes hot promotional items that you could use to promote your business through your blog or to promote your business blog itself.

I've attended many kinds of trade shows and conferences in my life, and I've always been impressed by the positive impact that a good promotional product can have on an attendee.

I've also seen many online stores tied to company blogs. The best ones, if they offer promotional products, make sure that the products are worth buying (good quality) and strengthen the corporate brand. A blog is a great way to announce new promotional items or updates to the online store.

So whether you're interested in setting up a store to go with your corporate blog or just want to send somebody corporate gifts or other businessy items, check out Empire Promos. You might like what you find.

Next up, an update on my Fortune 500 blog research.

Sponsored Review 

Let me ask you three questions.

1. How interesting is your business blog?

2. What's the noise level of your blog?

3. How do you unlame a business blog?

Metaphorically speaking, how do you get a two-legged lame old dog to get up and bound out the door, barking up a storm through the whole neighborhood?

Hang on, let me fetch my soapbox and megaphone.

Ahem.

Here are 10 new tricks for old dogs - er, blogs - to finally grow a pair of legs and become totally unlame.

1. Sit. Pay attention to what your customers are saying. Get some ego feeds. Listen.

2. Bow. Treat everyone as a customer and every customer as a dignitary.

3. Beg. Ask for things. Don't be afraid. Ask your customers questions. Ask them to subscribe. Ask them to buy stuff.

4. Dig. Research things and publish the results. Find the bone in the backyard and bring it home, head held high. Make people want to learn from you.

5. Growl. Get guttural. Put some chomp in your bite. Defend your stance on volatile issues. Don't back down.

6. Roll over. So you screwed up before. So own it and learn from it. Start over. Roll over.

7. Shake hands. Be friendly. A dog is a person's best ... exactly. Welcome visitors (but no sniffing, please). Linger. Let people enter your blog as guests and leave as friends.

8. Wag your tail. Talk about stuff that excites you. Let your audience share your joys.

9. Fetch slippers. Pamper your blog visitor. Offer a free product or service. Thank and praise and encourage commenters and backlinkers and Diggers and Stumblers and Deliciousers.

10. Dance. Do something unique, fun, memorable. Make people laugh. Get stuck in their head so tight their kids hear all about you at the dinner table.

... and one more:

11.  Learn names. A great dog knows its masters by name and treats them as - gasp - inidividuals, even though they all form one pack. Find your pack. Find out who else is blogging in your niche and get to know them personally. Spend time in each other's doghouse.

All right - what have you learned? (These are so simple - but you know what they say about old dogs ...)

Please, please unlame your business dog blog. The world needs your bark. It needs your bite. It needs your loyalty, fleas and all.

As you sit, bow, beg, dig, growl, roll over, shake hands, wag your tail, fetch slippers, dance and learn names, you will unlame your blog and someday become a top dog.

So, how do you plan to unlame your business or professional blog?

Photo: BBC