Starting a Group Blog series:
- Introduction
- Preparation – Strategy
- Pre-Launch – Expectations
- Launch – Execution
- Post-Launch – Growth / Conclusion
Just as you planned and agreed with your bloggers how leaving the blog
would work, you now need a plan for how adding bloggers will work.
Maybe adding a blogger is entirely the decision of the sponsoring
organization, or maybe it requires the approval of some percentage of
the current bloggers. Think about whether adding bloggers means each
person posts less often or whether it means your posting frequency
grows.
Whether or not you add regular bloggers, you should consider having
guest bloggers. In fact, one of the best ways to recruit additional
regular bloggers is to have them guest post a couple of times first and
see how they fit into your blog’s community. Guest bloggers can be
recruited from regular commenters, bloggers on related blogs, and experts
on your topics.
You should inform all the bloggers regularly (probably monthly) about
how the blog is doing – how many hits, links, comments, etc. Make sure
the bloggers can see how the blog affects their own careers, not just
the benefits for the sponsoring organization – for instance, mention any
blogger’s media hits or speaking opportunities to the whole group.
Conclusion
Managing a group blog can be a great opportunity for an organization to
be seen as a leader in its field and for that organization to promote
like-minded voices in the blogosphere. If you invest the time to start
up your group blog with clear focus and expectations, it will be easier
to manage and more likely to take off. Your bloggers will enjoy writing
for you, and you’ll enjoy working with them. And you’ll have a great
blog.
Good luck, and have fun blogging!
