Sage Advice On Company Blogging From Matt Cutts

Matt Cutts has offered advice on commercial blogging in at least a couple of places. While I’m not a disciple of Matt (and I don’t necessarily recommend that anyone else be either), he does offer some good advice in this area. Consider:

• Don’t make hard promises
• Don’t trash talk the competition
• Don’t post when you’re angry
• When just starting out, proceed with caution
• Learn what matters and what doesn’t
• Don’t clam up over mistakes

This is all very good advice. And now, for the elaboration:

No hard promises - The future is bright. We know that. You’re improving, you’ve got great plans, but you can’t predict the future. An earthquake could shatter your building and you could lose all your research. Executives may decide to change midstream. Changes in the business climate could cause your company to modify plans. There’s nothing wrong with making tentative statements like “We plan to …” and “This should …” When in doubt, don’t make hard-and-fast statements that customers, suppliers, and partners will come to rely on. They will make decisions based on what you say publicly.

Keep the trash talk out of it - If your brand can’t stand on its own then you’re in trouble. No need to tear down the competition. But honest and fair comparisons are OK.

Don’t post when you’re angry – Sometimes people take cheap shots or get their facts wrong. If you feel you need to respond publicly to a situation, don’t do it when you’re angry. Let the anger subside. Or write the post you want to write and don’t post it. Let it sit for 24 hours then take another look at it.

Ramp up slowly. The best time, it seems, to make a big mistake is when you first start out. If blogging is new to you, don’t jump in with the controversial stuff first. Go into it slowly and work your way up to the hard stuff. Establish your voice and make sure your communications won’t be misunderstood.

Learn what matters. Some things are so trivial you’ll wonder later why you thought it mattered. Figure it out before you make a fool of yourself.

Allow for mistakes. You’re only human. Even if you’re the CEO of a multi-national corporation, you still have blood and bones. Mistakes happen. Don’t let it get to you. Overcome them gracefully.

Matt Cutts got it right on this one. This is sage advice that is applicable to small company bloggers as well as corporate bloggers. Even ghostwriters like us.