Blogging is not difficult, but it does take some real commitment to build a successful business blog.

The most important element of a good blog is consistency. If you're not committed to writing regularly for a long period of time I'd recommend that you not start. You'll be disappointed in your results and will probably have wasted your effort. It took me about 3 to 4 months before I started getting substantial traction with my blog. This is a long term marketing strategy; don't expect it to pay off tomorrow.

I personally recommend that you plan on posting at least 1 new post each week. More is always better and the ideal for a busy business professional like you and I is probably 2-3 times per week. Don't start too fast, concentrate on consistency. If you're going to post twice a week, start with twice a week. Don't start out writing 3 posts a day everyday for the first month and burn yourself out.

Your posts don't have to be long. My average post is probably just 300-400 words. This way the people that are coming to read your blog won't feel overwhelmed, and will be more likely to read more than one post. You can always take the short blog post you've written and turn it into a longer article for your website or for other publications.

What if I'm not a great writer? Don't worry, just start. By posting to your blog consistently over time you will become a better writer. Focus more on adding value for your readers, make it personal and share your opinions and things about yourself. The occasional typo or grammatical error will be overlooked. You should still use a spell checker just in case.

Get involved in the blogging community. Read other blogs and participate. Build relationships with other bloggers. You'll find that you love it when people contact you about your blog. When you contact other bloggers because you've been reading what they've said they'll feel the same way. This is a great networking opportunity and you'll often find that these bloggers will talk about you and your blog which can help make more people aware of your blog, and you should do the same for them.
For example. I was just reading my friend Thom Singer's blog this morning where he coined the term: "Neblogging" to describe exactly this advantage.

If you're going to start your own business blog make it a long term commitment. Have fun and trust that your investment of time will payoff.

Happy blogging!

Scott Ingram
NetworkInAustin.com