Seven Things to Consider Prior to Launching Your Business Blog

In many ways building a business blog is like designing a rolling ball sculpture. Rolling ball sculptures also known as kinetic sculptures are so engaging because of the visual and aural spectacle -- following intricate roller coaster paths, clinging and clanging along the way. But the basic element is they are designed for perpetual motion.

The same goes for your business blog and the basic key to success is to plan for it to be a perpetual outlet for remarkable content. When planned right blogs end up with the appeal, rhythm and engagement found in rolling ball sculptures.
Here are seven things to consider prior to launching your business blog:

1) Set aside time
Blogs fail because businesses cannot keep up with them. Blogging requires frequency and commitment. You should think about how frequently you want to blog and how much time you need per week to write. Then set aside that time and stick to it.

2) Build a network or following
Your blog has a greater chance of succeeding if you have a larger community to share your content with. Plan to build up a network or following prior to launching your blog. That way it will have a wider reach from the get-go because more people can share it.


3) Keyword research
One of the biggest benefits of creating content is the search traffic it will attract to your site. Do some research so you are targeting keywords that will bring in good qualified traffic to your site. If you are struggling with what to write about this is also a great way to queue up some ideas for articles.

4) Queue up articles
It never hurts to stay ahead of the curve. If you plan to write once a week it may not be a bad idea to queue up four to five articles so you have a month's worth of content ready to go. This way you can stay consistent and keep up with your established publishing frequency.

5) Create calls-to-action
You should take the time to think about what calls-to-action should go into your blog posts and create them. If you want to derive business value from your blog in the form of leads and customers you need good, relevant offers to go along with your content.

6) Set up RSS/Subscriber feeds
If you want to grow your business blog you need to build a subscriber base. Think about how to position your RSS feeds or email opt-in on your blog and your website to maximize subscriptions.

7) Ways to promote it
Lastly, it is critical to think about ways to promote your blog. Will you tweet your articles or include them in your company newsletter? How often? How about sharing them on Facebook or LinkedIn? You might want to include your RSS feed on each of your profiles. Spend some time on figuring ways to get the word out there!


What are some of the preemptive things you have done to help the success of your blog? Please share your experiences in the comments. Thanks.

Guest Post: Pre Owned Luxury Watches: Stylish, Classy - And Often Counterfeit

Pre owned luxury watches are like a slice of history, and when you wear one, it's like you're wearing a part of history right on your body. The intricate tiny engineering contained inside is a thing of beauty, and for those who appreciate it, antique watches are an enjoyable fashion piece to wear.

Others don't so much get their enjoyment by wearing the pre owned luxury watches as they do collecting them and the stories and history surrounding them. And still yet, others resell them, turning a tidy profit by investing and reselling them to other vintage time piece enthusiasts and collectors.

Antique watches come in many shapes and sizes, but whenever buying one, you need to be mindful that some vendors out there are looking to sell you fake copies of pre owned luxury watches--counterfeits--hoping to turn a quick buck while conning you with a fake product. It's in your best interests to take a little time and educate yourself before buying: the fake watches tend to use lighter, cheaper components; they typically don't have the bevelled logo like real antique luxury watches; and they don't have a serial number that checks out in the official database of that particular watch company--which you can often check out on your own, online, with a quick search by going to google.com and typing in the name of the watch company, followed by the words "serial number", and then clicking one of the listings that appears that will give you either an option to search for any serial number to see if it's an authentic or else a listing of all the authentic watch serial numbers ever in production.

It's best to get a lot of info about the watch you want to buy upfront when dealing with a seller and make a choice after everything checks out and you're convinced the watch is an authentic. But again, to be able to do that, you must first educate yourself on the product and familiarize yourself with it as much as you can, so you're able to see if you're dealing with a fake when you're shopping around or if it's the real, authentic product.

One more thing to keep in mind with vintage watches is that they typically require a little more maintenance than modern watches. For one, you usually have to wind them up regularly. You must also care for them better by keeping them cleaner than an ordinary modern watch because of the delicate internal system of gears and fine parts housed inside the casing. If the inside gets dirty, you're basically hosed until you can get it cleaned by a watch repair center. Pre owned luxury watches are a bit higher maintenance like this, but for many, they're more than worth the extra effort just for how much more character and charm they have over the army of plain, boring watches being spre owned luxury in stores today. Just make sure that, if you're going to buy an antique watch, you do your research first and ensure that you are getting a genuine product and not inadvertently supporting and propagating the black market industry of counterfeit watches.