SmallBusinessNewz

Maybe you lack the talent; if so, it's okay - to each his own and all that.  Or maybe it's just a matter of interest or time.  But by no means is it easy for every small business owner to keep up a corporate blog, and in these situations, it's possible to hire a ghost writer instead of completely separating yourself from the job.

When would this be most appropriate?  Well, think about the public face of your company.  A place that's generally seen as a one-person operation might not be best served by bringing in some random soul to talk about everything.  So here are some tips, courtesy of Kari Rippetoe, if you get a ghost.

"Don't remove yourself from the process.  You may not have the time to write the posts yourself; but you still need to be right in the thick of things."  By the same token, "Don't let anything get posted without your consent. . . .  Your consultant should be providing you with drafts of your blog posts, and you should be reading them and providing feedback until you're satisfied with the content.  Then and only then does it get published."

Next, "Don't let the voice of your blog vary wildly.  It's important for your blog to have a consistent voice and style, which is why 1) you need to be heavily involved in how the posts are written, and 2) you should have one person writing them (not several)."  Even if your readers/customers are okay with the idea of a ghost blogger, it'll simply look silly if posts oscillate between "We will achieve objective X next quarter" and "Yeah, I should get it done in the next few months."

So at least give ghost writers a thought before having an employee compose something.  And by all means, run 'em through your brain two or three more times before giving up on the idea or business blogging entirely.