Trying to figure out this blogging thing…

While I am certainly new to blogging, I have been giving some thought as to how to make it all a success. In addition, some of my consulting clients have asked me how to approach blogging, so I took a little time and put together a cookbook. I assume there are many other good resources out there on the step-by-step approach, but is a first stab at success;

• You need to do the work, no ghost writers allowed. This is hard for many people to get, but in order to be successful, you really need to put yourself, your brain and your perspective into the blog. If you cannot find the time, energy or interest, STOP HERE!
• Now, assuming you think you want to go forward;
  
  • Make a 6-12 month commitment. By the end of your time, you should be posting at least twice/week with > 75% of the content being original content/thoughts!
    
  • Budget at least 2 hours/post (1.5 for reading and .5 for posting)
    
  • Get your own blog (Blogger, WordPress, or Typepad)
    
  • Find, read and collect key bloggers for your industry and role (marketing or product buying). Search Bloglines, Technorati for key feeds. Find key “thinkers’ in your area and/or popular bloggers (e.g. Seth Godin in marketing)
    
  • Read regularly their blogs (use Google Reader)
    
  • Create a MyBlogLog profile
    
  • Start commenting on their blogs, thoughtfully and creatively. Find the bloggers who are saying things that you think are important and are most like what you want to say.
    
  • Begin excepting and commenting your favorite bloggers on your blog (create deep trackbacks, link backs…) and combine several others perspectives. “bob says X and Jim says Y and they are really smart…”
    
  • Add widgets to your blog (e.g. Mybloglog) to get more inbound/outbound links
    
  • Over time (1-3 months) begin to move from commenting on others stuff (10% new content of your own) to creating higher and higher levels of your own content, keep making links to others points to support your own perspective “Bob says X and I really disagree with him because…” or “I really think X and here is why…”
    
  • When people comment on your blog, engage and start the dialog. Read their blogs, add them to your blogroll.
    
  • Add your blog to Feedburner and take advantage of their “publicize” tools. Explore other “tools” for adding features to your blog like importing your blog posts to your Facebook profile
    
  • Claim your blog and start tracking your status www.technorati.com. Check the top blogs and begin to think about how you can copy, link to and get mentioned there. You can also track tends, keywords and other blogs at BlogPulse
    
  • Read – comment – post – link – repeat