Opening the Door: The 4-Point Welcome Mat
View CommentsThings on the blog are in place, and the first visitor hasn’t yet come. Keep your door open and your welcome mat down. They need a chance to know that you’ve moved in. These are the words to keep you blogging smart while you wait and when the first ones come.
- Add value. You’ve got time now. Use it to look at what other blogs do that you don’t. Find ways to incorporate your version of their best assets into your blog’s presentation and format.
- Focus on others. Look with a critical to what others will see when they come. Is everything welcoming and intuitve for readers? Are the visuals inviting and not overpowering? Does your writing voice make it sound as if you’re actually there with them?
- Gratitude. Greet your first comment with “Thank you.” Greet every comment after the same way. Welcome readers and value the time that they give to reading your words.
- Collaborate. Talk to your visitors as colleagues — discuss and converse. Don’t instruct. Always invite them to add ideas and offer opportunities for them to collaborate on projects, such as interviews, guest posts, or other events you might think up. If time doesn’t allow such collaboration, invite them to submit their ideas for a special section on the blog. You might give them a comment thread on which to write.
One of the best ways to establish a corporate blog’s identity is to let the customers have a part of it.
Liz Strauss
