What Does A Blogging Consultant Look Like?

You know, normally you can find the definition of a word or phrase by typing ?define: your phrase here? to google and come up with tons of results. Today there are millions of blogs and there are hundreds of people calling themselves ?Blog or Blogging Consultants?, but if you type ?define: Blogging Consultant or Blogging Consultant? you won't get any definition in google. This is probably a good thing for most blogging consultants because without a definition there is no standard to hold themselves to. I'm not claiming to be an all-time blogging guru or anything like that. So in front of you? blogging advisors? start defending yourself about it, think before you write something. If you're going to be too nasty about the post, may I ask you to define "blogging consultant"? and many of you wouldn't be able to do it without google. Now that's out of the way, let's talk business. Every business should have a blog. There are so many reasons for your business to have a blog that it would be difficult to write them all in one blog post, so let's assume that you know that your company needs a blog. So are you hiring a blogging consultant? What qualifications are you looking for in a blogging consultant? What does a blogger consultant look like? How much should I pay a blog consultant? Let's start with? Should You Hire a Blogging Consultant? The quick answer is yes, but let's first look at why. There are many things that go into popularizing a blog. Technorati tags, posts and pings to bloglists and blog search sites, learning how to get on the right blogrolls, etc. If you're new to blogging, most of these things take time to get the hang of, and most blogger consultants say that all of the above the above is essential if you want to have a successful blog. There are more things to add to the list, but this article is not about how to run a successful blog, but about blogging tips. Hiring a blogging consultant can save you a lot of early mistakes and get your blog up and running much faster than trying to do it yourself. Now all the blog advisors like me again. I can tell you. But will it last? What qualifications are you looking for in a blogging consultant? This is where things get ugly between me and the blogging advisors. Most blogging consultants are . . . well. . . bloggers. Many of them have what they think is a successful blog, although many bloggers have different ideas of what success is. Some think it is defined as how much they earned from google adsonsense last month. Others measure success by the number of visitors to their website or the number of comments that appear on their blog. Others measure their success by what other bloggers think of them. What do all those bloggers who are blogging consultants have in common? Everyone thinks that a successful blog automatically makes you a qualified blogging consultant. I told you it would be ugly. After this article, if I measured my success by what other bloggers think of me, I'm doomed! Fortunately, I don't measure my success by what other bloggers and blogger consultants think. Let's go back to these qualifications for a blogging consultant. First, a blog is a website. It's a website that is updated frequently in most cases, but it's still a website. Each blog post becomes a page of that website. So with a blog, you create more web pages on your site as often as you post to your blog. Now I have a question for you. Would you like to hire a blogger to do search engine optimization for your website first? Would you like to hire a blogger to handle your AdWords campaign first? Would you first be looking for a blogger to create your website for you? The answer to all of the above is probably no, unless the blogger also has experience in these areas and not just for his blog. Real websites they built, optimized and marketed for themselves and clients. A blog consultant shouldn't just be a blogger. They should also have all the skills needed to run a website. Now the blog advisors are mad at me again. But think about it. Many bloggers know how to write. They know how to get into the right circle of blogger friends who will link to them. They know about blogging. So if all you need to know is how to write a blog, then hiring a blogger who knows how to write is the solution, but if you need someone to manage your blog for you, including adding blog posts, search engine optimization, popularity links (and not just from blogrolls) and marketing, then you need to hire a webmaster who also blogs. Ok, how much should I pay a blogging consultant? how much do you have I'm kidding. A lot depends on the type of blog you want or have. A corporate blog has to pay more, not because they have more, but because there are all kinds of legal and political issues to consider with every single blog post and every single link to or from another blog or website. A small business blog doesn't have many of the same issues as a business blog, but it still has certain standards that must be met. If you've ever hired a webmaster, not a web designer, a webmaster (that's another article), or a search engine optimization company, or a search engine marketer, or even just a marketing consultant, (I was just there. I could piss off the consultants again.), then you have an idea how much a blog consultant should cost. Now keep in mind that if you hire a blogging consultant to strictly teach you how to blog, then it doesn't cost as much money as hiring a blogging consultant to also do all the webmaster and internet services. The marketer would provide plus search engine optimization. Ha ha! I haven't said how much it costs yet. It's coming. Read on. What does a blogging advisor look like? He seems like someone who has more than just a blog or blogs. Someone who also owns and manages several websites for himself and clients. As I said before, a blog is still a website.