This is a continuation of my last post, Your Corporate Blog: Why to have it and How to maintain it (Part 1)! In the first part of this post, I discussed the advantages of integrating a corporate, or business blog into your company’s web presence. Now that we’ve thought about why we need one, it’s time to think about how to manage it.

With all of the benefits of having a Blog and such a wide range of practical applications, why do Marketers and corporate decision makers so often cower at the idea of implementing a Blog? It seems that the answer often comes down to the burden of producing content on a regular basis. All too often, companies lose out on the myriad benefits of a Blog simply due to a misunderstanding or a preconceived notion about what it actually takes to make a Blog successful. However, I'm a big believer in the idea that consistency, not frequency, is king when it comes to maintaining a Blog.

Content production doesn't have to be, and shouldn't be scary. No one ever said that, if your site has a blog, you need to write new content every day. What is important, however, is being consistent with how often you DO create new content. Don't overburden yourself, but find a pace that works for your schedule and that you can stick to. Then, most importantly, stick to it! Before you know it, your blog will start to gain regular readers, and they'll establish a certain expectation of how frequently they should return to see new content. This expectation is totally set by the pace you establish early on; the last thing you want to do is turn these loyal readers off with inconsistency.

Here are some other helpful techniques and strategies to making your company Blog a success (and easier to manage, too!):

Create a Backlog - Blog content doesn't have to be newly written to be fresh. If you have a day when you're feeling particularly inspired, or happen to have a lot of extra time on your hands, by all means keep writing! Some articles may be more pressing or immediately relevant than others, but lots of posts will be applicable no matter when they go up, so start keeping a backlog to fall back on next time you're in a crunch and unable to pull together a fresh article in time for a post.

Invite Guest Bloggers - Having trouble producing the content on your own, or even with your internal resources? Find someone out there in the Blogosphere (or maybe even elsewhere in the company) that has valuable insight that you think your audience would benefit from, and invite them to contribute to your site blog! This helps introduce the guest author to a new audience, and takes some of the burden off of you and your team. Most bloggers will provide a way for you to contact them directly from their Blog.

Learn How to be Lazy - If the ideas aren't flowing, don't sweat it! A great way to make Blog writing easier is to leverage what others have already written. Make a quick post by taking some excerpts from an article you find interesting, and add your thoughts. Ask questions of your readers - you don't need to know it all! Just be sure to always give credit to the original post and author.

It's OK to Change Pace - Just make sure you're increasing the frequency, not decreasing it. Don't do this at a time that doesn't work for you - make sure it's a planned change and that you have the time and infrastructure to support the new pace. If you find yourself with lots of extra content, but don't feel that your'e ready to up the pace, start creating a backlog to help you manage the next few months more easily.

Being the manager of a Blog can seem intimidating, but by following these tips (and by figuring out what works best for you!), it can be a lot less scary than you may think.