What Is Group Blogging?
A group or collaborative blog is a website with articles written on a specific topic, on a regular basis, by a collection of bloggers. One specialized form of group blogging is corporate blogs created by multiple authors across an organization.
Here are twelve steps with 42 questions to help you to create a group blog.
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Select blog’s over arching theme.
- What is the blog about?
- What specific topics will be covered?
- What will the blog be called? What’s the URL?
- How will sub-categories be integrated into the architecture of the blog?
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Determine overall blog design.
- What will the blog look like?
- What blog theme will be used?
- What branding elements will be incorporated? If the blog’s associated with a product, other media or organization, ensure the blog is in line with its overall brand guidelines.
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Choose your bloggers.
- Who will write your core content?
- Are you a group of professional bloggers, a loose association of experts in a field, or corporate employees?
- Who will cover the different aspects of your topic? Will you have ghostwriters?
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Create the ground rules.
- How are blogging duties distributed?
- Who will handle the administrative, technical and graphic aspects of the blog?
- How are differences resolved? Who’s in charge? Who has final say?
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Develop blog policies and fine print.
- What are the blog’s terms of use?
- Do the articles have to be written solely for the blog or will you accept reprinted content?
- Who owns the blog content (the blog or the author) and for what period of time?
- What are the blog’s disclaimers?
- What are the guest blogging policies?
- What are the commenting policies?
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Determine blog goals.
- What is the blog’s objective? Is it an executive platform, sales support, etc?
- How are the proceeds distributed if revenue generation is involved?
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Provide editorial guidance.
Here’s the meat of the content that creates the basis for an editorial calendar.
- What type of language should be used? Do you accept foul language?
- What length blog posts are acceptable?
- How frequently will the blog be published?
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Incorporate non-text content.
- What other content is needed such as photographs, illustrations, video, audio and presentations?
- Who is responsible for supplying the content and ensuring it’s legal to use?
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Give bloggers editorial support.
- Who will provide the copyediting?
- What words are acceptable? Does the blog sound like your readers?
- What writing quality is expected?
- What keywords are to be included in each post?
- What is the linking policy? Where can bloggers link to? Can they link to their personal blogs?
- Who’s responsible for associating keywords within the post?
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Celebrate bloggers.
- How do you give your bloggers their 15 seconds of fame?
- Is there a special page for each blogger with their profiles and bio? Include a blurb and photograph with each post.
- Is it linked to their social media presence?
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Promote your blog
- How will you get the word out about your blog?
- Which social sharing will you use on your blog? Will you set up your blog to push out content? (Bear in mind that where and what you say on social media matters.)
- Can you cross promote your blog using other platforms with which your bloggers are associated?
- How can you promote the blog using internal media where the bloggers are involved?
- How can you leverage other events where the bloggers are represented?
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Measure your success.
Here’s where you track your progress.
- What blog metrics are associated with your blog goals?
- Are there secondary blog attributes you’ll track
As with any group undertaking, lay the groundwork in terms of determining your goals and outline responsibilities upfront so everyone involved understands what’s expected of them.
Is there anything else that you’d add to this list that’s unique to group blogging?
Happy marketing,
Heidi Cohen
Here are some related articles about blogging you may find useful.
- Blogging ABC
- 29 Reasons you aren’t getting blog traffic
- 21 Blog tips to get your blog discovered now
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/emanwinston/3030845968/
