Top CEO Blogging Strategies From A to Z All the letters of the alphabet represent important ways for leaders to improve their blogging.
By Pratik Dholakiya Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
We all love bite-sized lists of top things, whether it's for personal or professional reading. Whether you are a founder or CEO thinking of starting your own blog or improving your company's content strategy, this A-to-Z list of insights is a must-read. So without further ado, let's start with the rundown on the best blog blogging strategies for top dogs.
Related: 5 Ways to Improve Your Content-Marketing Strategy in 2016
Authentic
Though Facebook isn't a traditional blog, Mark Zuckerberg tops our list with the most authentic posts on his Facebook page. From writing about his wife's miscarriages to his dog, Beast, Zuck is the best at being authentic.
Brief
Not all CEO blog posts are lengthy in-depth analyses of a topic. Some of them are short and to the point. If you are short on time and yet have something interesting to tell, quickly scribble out something before it slips out your mind.
Collaboration
There's no CEO in the world who leads from the front without delegating tasks to their support team. You can take the help of content creators and product engineers in your team to make sure your posts are relevant and engaging and are always factually correct. Wrike is a cloud-based tool that can help you and your team set a content schedule, collectively brainstorm ideas, collaborate on writing and editing as well as promote posts after publishing them.
Disruptive
Why would a tech entrepreneur write about cooking, and why would a hotel chain CEO write about selling underwear? But these CEOs are disrupting traditional blogging ideas, and they are doing it with élan.
This is the most important part to remember about blogging strategies. Don't let your CEO blogs sit idle. Mobilize content by informing your email subscribers about your latest blog posts via email share buttons or monthly newsletters.
Feature interviews
Keep a segment of feature interviews where you write about all the behind-the-scenes of interviews. Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks recently shared an interview with a high school reporter. Not a single question was related to sports, but the interview gives you an insight about the CEO like no other. And here's something quirky to learn from blog maestro Bill Marriot.
Generic
Adobe's blog is a potpourri of ideas from various thought leaders within the company. The content is quite generic, and from bullying to Digital India, they discuss almost every topic under the sun.
Humor
I like Marriot's style of writing and find humor in it. But most CEO blogs are a bit too formal. While we certainly wouldn't expect CEOs to crack crass jokes, a little tongue-in-cheek humor would keep things interesting.
Industry insights
Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn is an industry expert on all things networking and resources. His essays on entrepreneurship, civic and intellectual life are deep and intuitive. BDO's CEO also shares insightful articles on the world of finance.
Jargon-free
A lot of tech CEO and CFO blogs are filled with jargon, and apart from a few insiders, the blog content is Greek to most mere mortals. Use an effective jargon filter -- here's a free basic tool to turn your posts into English
Kiosk-y
Your blog is not a kiosk where you sell your business. Try to avoid direct marketing or hard selling. This is one of the fastest ways to start losing audience.
Layout
A clean blog with a simple layout is the hallmark of good blogging practice. Instead of having visitors click on links to read your blogs, use elements like partial loading and infinite scrolling on your blog, like LinkedIn.
Related: 4 Ways to Use Your Blog to Market Your Business on Social Media
Meaningful
Your readers are on your blog to gain something from you. Whether you are giving leadership lessons or work-life balance tips, make sure you add meaning to your blog posts.
Newsworthy
CEOs are usually the first to get the latest news related to the company and the industry as a whole. Sharing the inside stuff and news can win you brownie points.
Offense-less
If you are writing about or reviewing something that relates to your business, an honest review might not be a bad idea, but try to keep venom out if it. Slideshare's ex-CEO wrote a post on female entrepreneurs not getting enough venture capital funding, and it stirred up quite a mess.
Politics
CEOs should refrain from anything that has to do with politics and controversies. What may start like an innocent comment might turn out to be a media circus.
Q&A
A lot of CEOs do Q&As on their own blog, Reddit or other such communities. However, this is a double-edged sword and should be treated such -- on one hand, we have winners like Jason Fried from Basecamp and on the other we have duds like this one.
Regular
It is not always possible for CEOs to run the company as well as the blog consistently. This is why it is incredibly important to plan well in advance and have a ready supply of content to keep your blog fresh during those busy times.
Social sharing
Share your blog posts on several platforms and communities including social media sites and forums. LinkedIn is the number-one choice of platform for CEOs. The ones good with words are also making use of Medium to express their thoughts.
Testing
Google Analytics, BuzzSumo, and other tools give you insights on what works and what not. Try to write more blogs that readers like, comment on or share.
User experience
In today's time, user experience is everything, so repeatedly ask yourself these questions -- is my blog easily readable? Can I view it easily on mobile? Is the font size too tiny or too large? And so on.
Video blogs
Vlogs or video blogs are the next best thing to podcasts and webinars. If you are feeling too lazy to write, try vlogs.
Writing tools
There are tons of writing tools available online to help you perfect your writing style. Make sure your blog is Grammarly correct and punctuation-perfect. If you are prone to writing long-winded sentences, Hemingway is a great help.
Xenial
Yes, it rhymes with and means almost the same thing as genial -- to be hospitable and friendly. Invite guest bloggers to share their thoughts on your blog now and then, for the sake of variety. It could be another CEO, a staff member or even a friend.
Yacht parties
It is a given that, being a CEO, you are awarded many privileges such as going on long vacations or taking your friends to yacht parties. However, don't make it look like you are on a perpetual vacation. Have only a reasonable number of holiday posts.
Zappos
CEOs and COOs should take cue from Zappos on building a perfect public image. Bookmark this link to the Zappos blog and read it often.
That's all for now. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it!
Related: In the Quest for Leads, Your Blog Is Your Greatest Companion
