Topical business blogging and the LinkedIn IPO

The Internet is currently "stripping a bolt" over the massive surge in investor interest in the LinkedIn IPO. Rightly, so too. LinkedIn is one of the few Internet and social IPOs that have a sound business model, with strong revenue to back it up. Sure, they haven't made a killing in profit... yet.

So how does the massive success of LinkedIn play into your hands as a small business or blogger looking to find ways to engage and interest readers? Well, for a start, you might have had an opinion on how LinkedIn would fare? For example, doozer correctly predicted that LinkedIn would exceed all expecations using the social prediction startup, topulo.us a few days before the IPO.

If you are a finance business looking to blog about something "big" that's going to happen, making a prediction that is published for all the world to see is a good way of staking your claim to expertise and insight. It's then very easy to get at least a few blogs' worth of content out of that prediction - i.e. blog about why you made the prediction, what factors could influence the outcome, and why you were right or wrong in the end.

The "trick" being used here is the fact that you are legitimately discussing something that is trending, buzzing, hyping and generally doing the rounds. This immediately shows readers that you aren't simply churning out content for the sake of it... you're taking part, staying current, being involved. It doesn't matter if your prediction ends up being slightly wrong - provided you can intelligently back up why you made that prediction and what you think changed.

Ok, so predictions give you a foot in the door to discuss current trending topics, but they're not the only way in. You can have an opinion on anything - provided that it ties in with your niche content and offering in a natural way.

Here's a great example I wrote at the outbreak of the military action against Gadaffi in Libya. This article leveraged a currently "hot topic" in order to get across a message about how businesses can utilize social media to garner trust, support and build a following.

By discussing hot topics in a responsible, engaging and above all relevant way, you get to piggy-back on the buzz and hype around that topic. This increases the interest in your content as well as sets you up as someone who stays abreast of important events.

Whenever you feel a case of writer's block coming on, browse around some of the news sites and find something that is causing a stir. Offer an opinion on it. Make a prediction about the outcome on topulo.us. Discuss your opinions, and above all else, make it relevant to your niche.

Article first published as Topical Business Blogging and the LinkedIn IPO on Technorati.