Here is a list of guidelines to blog effectively –

General guidelines

1. Be dedicated. Post on a regular basis.
2. Make sure to organize articles in Categories that make the most sense.
3. Keep Post length consistent as part of your blog theme. Or, or make sure to break up larger Post’s into “bite size” pieces, like a Part 1, and Part 2.
4. Allow your readers to Contact you or visit the website you are referring to.
5. Write a short bio so your readers know who wrote the article.
6. Put a picture of the author on the blog (somewhere) so readers can identify with them.
7. Write on news, information, and tips in your subject domain.
8. Have a subject theme (Politics, Advertising, seld help, etc), and stick to it.

Quick Tips

1. Know your audience. Your audience will be mostly comprised of people that are interested in what you do, so try to remember to write with them in mind.  This may sound obvious, but too many companies fall victim to trying to be all things to all people to increase their scope.  This is what CNN is for, they have everything covered so that you don’t have to.  Remember to be relevant to your readers and your mission.
2. Be consistent. As corporate bloggers, I recommend having a minimum of 1 new post published per week.  I would not exceed 3 posts per week.  This will provide an acceptable amount of information to your audience without overwhelming them. Write from your heart and from your experience. Think of each unique perspective as an ingredient in your corporate blogging recipe.  If everybody sounds the same, it will be rather bland.
3. Keep it short. It is always a temptation to explain every small detail of what you want to convey.  People are so overwhelmed with information these days that, with very few exceptions, they will not read extremely long posts.  Keep them within 500-600 words.  If you are writing about something that requires great depth due to its complexity or details, consider splitting it into multiple posts, e.g. Part I, Part II, Part III. When in doubt, brevity is usually best.
4. Engage your readers. It will take a while to build an audience, but eventually they will be there, and they will start leaving comments.  I like to reply to the commenter via email (their comment will be sent to your inbox), and I usually copy/paste my response to them into the comments section of the blog as well.  If somebody took the time to publically engage you, no doubt they would appreciate the public reciprocity.  On this note, I do not recommend moderating comments (it’s quite easy to pull them down if inappropriate).
5. Be professional. You are representing your company, so you need to remember to write accordingly.
6. Have fun. This doesn’t contradict the edict “be professional”, it compliments it.  I have seen a lot of presentations over the years, at conventions or one-on-one in my office by a salesmen. The most compelling are those that are presenting me with the information that I want but aren’t too stuffy about it.  They use their own personality to present the company information.  I like that, and so will your readers.
7. Be nice. Avoid attacking other individuals or companies. This includes colleges, authors, customers, vendors, competitors, or shareholders. You are welcome to disagree with the Company’s leaders, provided your tone is respectful.

These are guidelines, not rules.  Make your blog unique, but do remember that it is likely to be a popular touch point for the people you want to reach, probably more so than other areas of your website.  Use it to inform, educate, inspire and engage.
What we will do –

1. We will ensure that services like Technorati picks up on your Blog and distrubutes the content
2. Place a Blogroll, or links to categories section on the sidebar.
3. Use Social Bookmarking buttons to make it easy for readers to submit your post.

Facebook is one of the most popular social networking mediums, and their membership numbers are increasing quickly. It is a great tool for networking; but like many tools available for networking on the web, promotional or marketing activities are frowned upon.

So be careful when using Facebook and do your online marketing activities under the radar, or you might miss out on a powerful tool to boost your business.

In this article, I’ll give you some vital pointers to maximize the power of Facebook.

1) Just like any other social site, be careful what you put in your profile.

You don’t want to be seen as a link spammer. And you don’t want to give away too much personal information either (unless you don’t care that thousands of people may see your profile).

Just be careful with any personal details you put out there for others to see, such as where you live and pictures of your children. You do not want to pick up a stalker, especially when you are networking with strangers.

2) Don’t make the mistake of using your business name as your profile name, as this is against Facebook’s terms of service.

You are allowed to create other Facebook pages to brand your company, products or websites.

3) Respond to any friend requests and carefully send your own invitations. Make them personal and interesting.

Developing a great network is your long-term goal to generate a slow, but steady traffic stream to your websites. Use this tool to your advantage without being pushy or overbearing. Facebooks members hate spamming (who doesn’t?) and will carefully watch out for anything that violates their Terms of Service (TOS).

If you want to see profiles of those from another network, add them as your friends using the “Add to Friends” button. Follow the steps in the Edit tool to fill out any information you want others in your network, or others you accept as friends, to view.

4) Use various applications of Facebook.

Facebook has many applications which would make your networking experience easier or more enjoyable. Examples are applications for adding footage or photograph albums to your profile for others to see.

I’ll discuss two other powerful Facebook applications in a moment.

5) Use Facebook’s “My Questions” application to find out what people are exactly looking for concerning your niche.

This is where posters answer certain questions about themselves and what they are looking for on Facebook. They will also list their interests. Use this in your networking activities.

Unless they have expressed an interest in your field, do not invite them to join your friends list. Of course, you can still ask them if you genuinely want to be their friend.

But if you are there to network for your website business, then choose your friends wisely. This is how you are building your list and getting traffic to your website. So you have to manage your time well and eliminate non-productive activities.

Again, be very careful about Facebook’s TOS. Do not go against it because breaking the rules will get you banned.

6) Use “Facebook Discuss.”

It is Facebook’s answer to instant messaging. Chatting, or IM’ing, on Facebook is truly quite easy when you use Facebook Discuss .

Just go to your Facebook page and you can start using Facebook Discuss immediately. At the base of each Facebook page, you may see your Facebook Discuss tools.

The first of the 3 Facebook Discuss tools is the online friends tool. This simply tells you which of your Facebook buddies is online at this time. The next Facebook Discuss tool is notifications that may let you know if you have any new Facebook notifications right from the tool. The 3rd tool in Facebook Discuss is the real discuss tool.

7) Create and join Facebook groups.

Just as they have subscribed to your blog, they’re going to join your Facebook group. So people looking on Facebook for related groups would feel welcome to join.

Facebook groups are viral selling mechanisms. Search Facebook for groups on your topic and related ones. In each of these groups, you can post a message on the group Wall or debate board, or you may use the Post a Link feature to inform the group’s members of your group and your blog.

By promoting your Facebook group at first, rather than promoting your blog, you decrease the chance the group director will remove your message. Any Facebook member can make a group and invite users on their pals list to join.

A form prompts you to give the group a name, passing outline and class. At the following stage, you can customize your group’s available applications, upload a profile photograph and set privacy levels.

A secret group is fascinating for work-related activity, but it will not show up in search results. Choosing a closed group might be the best idea for you to protect your privacy. You will be inspired to choose members from your friends list to join the group.

When you start a group on Facebook, you can invite members to join the group and share their thoughts, viewpoints and consultations about your product, idea or start-up. Invitations to join a Facebook group can be through your Facebook buddies, your Yahoo contacts, etc.

Integrate your application into specific areas of the Facebook profile.

A Facebook application can take on a lot of forms; but in order to entirely implement the selection of integration points and deliver a full user experience, it is advised that you integrate your application into specific areas of the Facebook profile.

This permits millions of viewers to see your business everywhere on Facebook and attract potential patrons, who would naturally visit your start-up Internet site.

Remember to follow all Facebooks rules; otherwise, you’ll risk getting banned and your account deleted. This is not what you are looking for. Instead you want to use the group feature to promote your website within Facebooks rules. Do not overstep by thinking you can get around the rules. Use Facebook features to your advantage and you will see an increase in your website traffic.

Article by Jeremy Gislason