![\"outsource](\"https:\/\/www.marketingforsuccess.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/outsource-blog-marketing.jpg\" "\\"outsource")
<\/a><\/p>\n2)<\/strong> A blog requires excellent writing, something that is very difficult for many people.\u00a0 Writing is just not a skill that comes naturally to a lot of us, no matter how talented we are in other areas<\/p>\n 3)<\/strong> A blog to be successful requires on-going, exciting and original content.\u00a0 This is a huge commitment and not one that is easy to keep up.<\/p>\n 4)<\/strong> A blog, in my opinion, is the hub of your social media program.\u00a0 A badly executed blog can cancel out all your other well-intentioned efforts on other parts of the Social Web<\/p>\n 5)<\/strong> A blog is also the spinal cord of your social media.\u00a0 What I mean by that is that the content of your blog needs to be extensively and intensively re-purposed and shared throughout the Social Web.\u00a0 In other words, create a great blog and you have, in effect, created a great social media program<\/p>\n I recently ran a poll on Linkedin asking small business owners what part of their social media program they would most likely to outsource.\u00a0 45% said they would like to outsource their blog marketing. As important as a blog marketing is for your success online, it is also one of the most difficult tasks.<\/p>\n But there is outsourcing and there is outsourcing.\u00a0 If you work with a partner to outsource your blog, you need to be sure that you are not just asking a ghost writer to write and post the odd article.\u00a0 You will want to establish a strategy, identify keywords that are important to your business, establish monthly editorial calendars and have a program for your blog marketing so that you can repurpose your blog content into podcasts, videos, Facebook Fan Page comments and tweets.<\/p>\n What about the question of how to make sure an outsourced blog will really reflect your own voice.\u00a0 You will need to be sure you are clear about your blog objectives and the content you want to share.\u00a0 When I work with clients on their blog marketing<\/a>, I help them establish content ideas for several months ahead.<\/p>\n We often use the free software program Audacity so that the business owner can then record his\/her thoughts on a given post topic.\u00a0\u00a0 We then make sure that those thoughts are well integrated into the post.\u00a0 This is a great, quick way to ensure that the blog you have outsourced truly reflects your voice and ideas.<\/p>\n – Susan<\/em><\/p>\n