Blog Your Business Coverage for Greater Exposure

Blogging is one of the latest trends in our 24/7 news world. It offers the advantages of immediacy and interactivity that traditional news sources can lack. For business reporters blogs can be used to enhance coverage and better serve audiences.

In the news context, blogs are basically online columns written by reporters about their beats. There is a recognizable template for these columns: frequent posts with links in reverse chronological order, writes Ken Sands, a blogger for The Spokesman-Review,in a memo on blogging.

But don't let the vague definition fool you. The reporter should uphold journalistic integrity and avoid opinions or the blog won't be credible, and neither will the reporter. If the blog is done right, "it can improve your reputation on your beat, and that helps what you do for the newspaper," says Todd Bishop, Microsoft reporter and blogger for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Many newspapers are now offering blogs to reporters, but that doesn't mean everyone should have one.

"For some people on some beats, it might not be the right thing," Bishop says.

A good approach for a blog is to use it as an online reporter's notebook, serving as a supplement to your print pieces. Bishop says that his blog is made up almost exclusively of tidbits he came across doing research and working on his beat.

"If you run across something that is particularly interesting, it's easy just to post it," he says.

You can also take a Web-first approach, using the attributes of the Web--interactivity, immediacy, transparency, aggregation, multimedia?to write, Sands writes. This should enhance both reporting and the final product. "This involves a much greater level of commitment but holds by far the most promise for the future," he writes.

Bishop says time is the biggest issue. Having a blog is a tradeoff between spending time on your beat and spending time on the blog. For some people, the blog isn't worth it.

"The one thing I worry about (is) making sure that I don't spend too much time on it, making sure I spend enough time on the job I was hired for," Bishop says.

Sands offers a number of tips on how to write a successful blog:

•  Avoid commentary. Opinions should stay with the critics and editorials.

•  Update frequently. Posting multiple times a day is best, even if it's just a few sentences and a link. If that's not possible, make sure to do it at least three times a week.

•  Be specific and write on your specialty. Readers come to reporters for a certain reason, so be wary of general interest topics in your blog.

•  Find your franchise. Don't start a generic business blog, focus on major topics in your area. Bishop's Microsoft column is successful because of its specificity and audience interest.

•  Engage with readers. Ask for ideas and sources. "You either engage them and become part of their social networks, or you lose," Sands says.

•  Be transparent. Post relevant notes and documents and tell readers what methods you are using as you go along.

•  Make it a "one-stop information shop." Link to other sources that your readers might be interested in. This helps the reader by "giving them one place for information rather than simply adding one more place," writes Sands. The ability to put aside journalistic envy to link to a good article for the sake of the blog is an important thing to do, Bishop says.

•  Use photos, audio and video when you have it and to enhance the column.

Sands points out that the nature of news is changing and that readers are in control. In order to succeed in the future, "We need to capitalize on our strengths -- identifying local franchise issues, and becoming the leading authority on those issues."

Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism