How Not to Kill Yourself Starting a Blog (or Basketball Bracket)

Pfffft.

I’m surrounded by amateurs. I honestly am.

How embarrassed would you be if you organized an office NCAA bracket and the English fella, who had never heard of a ‘bracket’; knows nothing about basketball, let alone college basketball; and filled his bracket in under the auspices of which teams had the shorter names to write out went and won the thing?

Especially considering Mr. Seibert and Mr. Magorium are supposed college basketball fans.

So, considering I’ve probably started an internal office blog flame war (that y’all be fascinated by), I’ll graciously accept victory with an old Lancastrian winner’s motto:

Winners are grinners; losers can go co-co. (Or phrasing to that effect.)

Leading cat blogger dies.

But whilst I’m giggling at my colleagues’ ineptitude, I’m probably not guffawing as heartily as the New York Times after their link bait piece yesterday sent the blogosphere into yet another tailspin. You’ve got to applaud the NYT in a way as they obviously knew that some kind of stir would be caused if they intimated that blogging can kill you. I’m not going to link to the piece directly, as I like to kid myself that I’m not directly falling for their fun and games – you can easily find everything here.

I honestly have better things to do than trawl every response to a dopey article. But Scott Rosenberg sums it up quite nicely here.

I’m no stranger to bizarre medical related blogging emergencies myself, y’know.

There are enough questions we currently get asked about the potential pitfalls of starting a business blog without the added panic of them keeling over at the earliest opportunity because of it.

But these are a few of the questions we do tend to get asked by those willing to risk their own lives by starting a blog.

What do I write about?
You can write about whatever you want, but your unique selling point is you and the people who work at your company. Your products or services are neither here nor there unless they happen to be extremely unique. However, your business and its story is your business DNA that sets you apart from everybody else. A blog that reflects that will be a blog that sets itself apart from everybody else.

How do I write a blog?
Perkily, cheekily, informatively, humorously, passionately, knowledgeably, compassionately, honestly, opinionatedly.

What mistakes are most common and how can I avoid them?
The most common mistake is not allowing yourself to make them and letting people in your comments box rectify them. Don’t be so paralyzed by the fear of somebody calling you out that you can’t write anything but stilted PR fluff. It’s a conversation, not a slanging match. Just remember that you always, ALWAYS have the right to reply.

What about negative comments?
I’m tempted to reply: “What about ‘em?”, but that is a touch glib. Honestly, people will not come hurtling onto your blog hurling abuse left, right and center. And besides, abuse isn’t warranted and can be easily held for moderation – as should all comments- in the administration comments panel of your blog. The golden rule is that comments should add to the topic of the conversation and should be addressed by the blogger who wrote them.

Who should write the company blog?
More is definitely merrier and infinitely easier. But, the bottom line is that the person(s) should want to do it and be able to string some nice conversational sentences together. It doesn’t matter where in your company they come from. Trust them and try to keep your interfering to an absolute minimum.

Right, that’s enough to be going on with. Lunch beckons and I need sustenance as I’m a fatal blogging statistic just waiting to happen.

If you have any questions yourself you’d like clearing up – and it doesn’t matter how ridiculous you think they sound – then just fire away.

Besides, you couldn’t possibly sound more ridiculous than the New York Times.