Lee Odden has been blogging since 2003. He offers sage advice to help bloggers avoid the three tactical errors his company's blog made. These mistakes are common and can be avoided with time and attention. His three tips include:

Set goals. Without a clear strategy for your blog, you’re probably wasting productive time and attracting a disparate, transient audience. By defining business objectives and identifying the interests of your target audience, you can develop content that serves your business and your readers.

Stay in control. The usual way to start a blog is through a third party host like blogspot.com. It’s easy and free—but it isn’t necessarily your best long-term option. Search engines will associate the content you publish with a third party host as part of the host’s domain name, not yours. This can lead to serious linking and ranking headaches if you later decide to move the blog to your own domain. You can avoid these problems by hosting your own blog from the start.

Use relevant metrics. Implement Web analytics software to understand your blog’s impact. Not everyone wants the same thing from their blog. If your blog’s purpose is to influence opinion, pay attention to media pick-ups, links from prominent bloggers and your inclusion on lists. Inquiries, time spent at the site and repeat visitors are less important. If, however, your blog’s purpose is lead generation, the reverse is true.

The Po!nt: "You may be the kind of person that learns best from making your own mistakes,” writes Odden, “but if you’re not, I hope you can learn from ours.”

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