From time to time, my Say It For You blog will feature guest blog content writers with valuable thoughts to contribute about corporate blogging for business. Today’s guest blogger is friend Damon Richards, owner of Port-to-Port Consulting.

While the primary purpose for business blogging is to provide useful information to prospective customers so they will want to do business with you, a useful added benefit is the ability to send messages to your existing customers that you’d rather not have to tell them directly. I frequently use my business blog to post information that I want my Indianapolis outsourced IT support customers to know so that it’s familiar to them when one of my computer help desk technicians brings it up in conversation.

A great recent example was the discovery that virus infections were increasing as people started holiday shopping online from work. Personal email turned out to be the culprit, and we wanted to prepare our customers for the suggestion that these sites be restricted. I blogged about that before we contacted the organizations that were experiencing the problem.

In a business blog post, the statement seems more generic so my customers don’t feel singled out. They view things as universal problems, which makes them more willing to implement fixes. At the same time, the information presented is relevant to the prospects that I hope to find through successful Search Engine Marketing.

I’m not suggesting that you use your business blog to deliver bad news instead of taking it to the person who needs to hear it. Nor do I suggest announcing major shifts in internal policies that way. My point is that every now and then the same message that you use to enhance your brand development can be used to inform your current customers. Take advantage of the medium of blogging to reach your customers.

In providing corporate blogging training, I explain that blogging is just one part of a company’s marketing strategy and tactics development process. Here Damon Richards has suggested yet another application for business blog writing! 

"It’s hard to imagine celebrating holidays without special food, decorating, gifts, and big gathering," begins an article by Money Management International. "But consider how you can enjoy the spirit of the season on a budget."

Several of the MMI tips for budgeting during the holidays relate to all that effort you put into your business blog posts. In offering business blogging assistance, I stress some of the same ideas that apply to holiday prep.

Don’t get left with leftovers.  Prepare only what you need.
The nice thing about blogs is that extra content that is too much for one blog post can be used in another.  Focus on one core idea in each post, holding those extra thoughts for another day (with blogging, "leftover" ideas can actually "hold" for another month, or even another year!) Each post should have a razor-sharp focus on just one story, one idea, one aspect of your business.  The beauty of business blog writing, though, is that you can use the other thoughts for later posts.

Speaking of putting ideas on "hold", one great corporate blog writing sustainability tip is to keep a blog idea file, online or in a little notebook or folder. Articles you cut out of newspapers or magazines, notes on ideas gleaned from a seminar, from listening to the radio, reading a blog or a book, or "the rest of the story" carried over from a blog post that was getting overly long. Your folder of "ingredients" will make your job as a blog content writer a whole lot easier.

Stick to basics.  
Even though variety is a spice blog content writers must use, stick to a few basic "leitmotifs" or themes to form the backbone of your writing.  In writing for business, your themes are beliefs you hold about your industry that you think are important to convey to readers, or specific ways you successfully serve customers and clients.

Many business owners start out strong, but months or even weeks into trying to be blog content writers, their efforts fizzle, and they have trouble maintaining the discipline of frequent, regular posting (even if they recognize blogging’s importance to their marketing strategy and tactics development).

Since business blog writing is more like a marathon than a sprint, "budgeting" your efforts will help win the race!