Business Blogging - How to Build A Better Blog

Blogging about Blogging: Round Up of Posts

Even though this blog is about business blogging, every now and then I think it's important to share what others are saying...especially when it supports our position that blogging is an essential tool for businesses of any size to get found, get known and get new clients.*  Here are a few posts that illustrate why blogs and blogging are important...

10 Reasons A Blog is Better Than a Website
by Terri Zwierzynski (note: we are guest experts on business blogging for Terri's community in February and that is the inspiration for her post)

Why Blogs Matter
by Shannon Paul (Thanks to Debbie Weil for the head's up)

27 Blogging Secrets to Power Your Community
by Chris Brogan

Stop Blogging?
by moi - Denise Wakeman

*Ok, I know this may be one sided, but hey, it's our passion to share the power of having an online presence that you control, that's inexpensive and that can generate real, tangible results for your business!

What's your opinion? Does having a blog matter for your business? If not, why not? If yes, how does your blog support your business?

Stop Blogging?

An article on WebProNews quotes an article on Wired that it's time to stop blogging -- that somehow blogging has run its course, it's too impersonal and other tools have made it unnecessary.

They contend that using Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube, makes blogging unnecessary. I don't agree.

I believe your blog is the hub and foundation of your business communication.  It's where you drive people from your social networking sites so they can go deeper and more intimately with you.

Once people arrive on your blog, you have the opportunity to deepen your relationship, beyond the 140 characters available on Twitter.  The blog is where you educate, entertain, engage and enrich your reader.

From there, your reader begins to know, like and trust you and barriers are dropped. Readers are more likely to subscribe to your newsletter list, register for your teleseminars, buy your products.

Out of curiousity, I put this question out to my Twitter followers and got a few vehement responses:

Execs Prefer Coffee & the 'Net Over Morning Newspapers

"I'm not so sure my clients read blogs or use the Internet," said one of our clients who is a  consultant to high level executives. To which we had to pull out some recent research that proves otherwise.

According to an online study from Forbes.com and Gartner, the Internet continues to be the most influential and important source of business information for C-Level executives around the world, at 67%.

Instead of morning coffee and the newspaper, CEOs prefer the 'Net.

This information was brought to our attention by colleague Newt Barret of Content Marketing Today, and quotes a Media Post report. (registration required)

The research shows that “the Internet continues to be the most influential and important source of business information for C-level executives around the world."

Here are highlights from the research as quoted in the MediaPost blog:

• 67% of c-level execs say the Internet is their most important source of business information.
• That’s an increase of 37% since 2004.
• First thing in the morning Internet use is up 22%.
• First thing in the morning newspaper readership is down 11%.

Business Week Updates a 3 Year Old Story

Three years ago, Business Week published a story about blogs.

"...you cannot afford to close your eyes to them [blogs], because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself.  And they're going to shake up just about every business - including yours...Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective.  They're a prerequisite.

-- Business Week Magazine, May 2, 2005

According to business week that cover story, Blogs Will Change Your Business, archived on the Web received hundreds of thousands of page views and still comes up #1 on Google search results for "blogs business."

This week's cover story updates that important story: Beyond Blogs - What Business Needs to Know. I haven't had a chance to pick up the magazine, but I did read the online version.  The focus has changed a bit and shows the evolution and importance of social media like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Del.icio.us, all of which did not exist in 2005.

Social networks like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn are what's happening now, though we still contend that your business blog provides the foundation for your content creation.  The networks can drive people with whom you've established relationships, back to your blog, giving them a more indepth experience of you, your business, your expertise and how you can serve them.

Want to know more about business blogging? We've just released a free report called Better Business Blogging: 4 New Concepts for Getting Spectacular Results. Download the report here.

Where do you think business blogging is headed?  Do you participate in social networks?  How do you integrate your blog with your networks?

We want to know!

Personal Branding with a Blog

We recently published an article called "Personal Branding with a Blog" in Personal Branding Magazine for May (Issue #4) in which we state:

There are essentially four problems you’ll encounter when you want to get known, get found, and get hired for your best job ever:

• Nobody knows what you do
• Nobody’s heard of you
• Nobody is moved by your message
• Nobody can find you

Blogging is good for your career. A well-executed blog sets you apart as an expert in your field. A professional business blog will get you found more easily by people looking for your expertise in a way a traditional website can’t.

We predict that all successful professionals will soon have a personally branded blog where all career experience, expertise and published works will be available as an online portfolio.

What do you think about this idea? You can read the full article here...

Wall Street Journal Features Comments by The Blog Squad

How to pitch bloggers is once again a hot topic. Today's online version of The Wall Street Journal has an article called Attention, Bloggers. And for a little shameless self promotion...I was interviewed for the article! Whoo hoo.

NOTE: If you are not a WSJ subscriber you'll be asked to subscribe. I created a pdf of the article you can download instead. Download Attention Bloggers

There are good case studies of successful blogger pitches including one I submitted from Becky Sciullo about how she and her father, artist Robert Yonke, pitched bluegrass music blogs to promote his paintings of bluegrass musicians.

When I asked Shelly Banjo, the WSJ reporter, how she found me, her response: "Google, of course!"

How to get bloggers to write about you

This is a quickie today. Via my colleague Mike Jay, I found this article by Cory Doctorow on 17 Tips for Getting Bloggers to Write About You. These tips go hand in hand with how to pitch bloggers.

From the perspective of a blogger who may write about people, products and services and from the perspective of a blogger who may want other bloggers to write about you, study these tips. Take a look at your sites and blogs and see how you can tweak them to be more blogger-friendly.

Related Posts
Pitching Bloggers: I got one that worked!
Jounalists Want to Blog
Pitching Bloggers: 10 Things That Make Bloggers Angry
Pitching Bloggers: 15 Rules to Obey

Low Cost, High Return Marketing Tool

In my post a couple of days ago about the 10 year anniversary of blogs, I complained that all the articles were about the impact blogs have had on politics and culture.  When I mentioned this to a friend, he asked if I had seen the article in the New York Times - Blogging's a Low-Cost, High Return Marketing Tool.  I had not but immediately looked it up. 

The article states what we've been preaching for more than 3 years: a blog is tool that can help a company market, build their brand and raise its profile.

A recent American Express survey found that only 5 percent of businesses with fewer than 100 employees have blogs. Other experts put the number slightly higher.

There may be a plethora of blogs online, but the opportunity is still great for businesses, especially consultants, according to Aliza Sherman Risdahl, author of The Everything Blogging Book,

They are experts in their fields and are in the business of telling people what to do.

I know you're reading blogs, but are you blogging for your business yet?

10 Year Blogiversary

December 17 marked the 10 year anniversary of the date the first weblog went online. Amazing!  That makes us newbie bloggers still, having been blogging only 3.5 years.

Wired's article, After 10 Years of Blogs, the Future's Brighter Than Ever, reminds us of the first person, Jorn Barger, who coined the term "weblog" to describe his collection of links that "logged" his Internet travels.

CBS News has a short article, The Blog Turns 10, and the Wall Street Journal covers the anniversary as well with Happy Blogiversary. NPR has a week-long series on the evolution of blogging. They also have a great timeline starting in 1967 with the invention of the Internet.

Most of the articles about blogging's 10 years mention the impact on politics, culture, and entertainment...

Search Engines and Blogs

Over on Grokdotcom, there's an excellent article about The Search Engine's Love Affair with Blogs by Juan Tornoe. As Tornoe points out, and we've said many times ourselves, "search engines love blogs." And Tornoe goes on to say, it's not as simple as it sounds:

First, there's the issue of relevance. A blog won’t magically give you a top ranking position on Google, Yahoo! or the like. The content your blog has, the frequency with which such content is being updated, and the amount of relevant incoming links to your site are some of the factors that will make-or-break the effectiveness of your weblog.

Don’t add a blog to your site if you're not willing to consistently invest time and effort. An outdated blog will reflect the opposite image of whatever it is you want potential customers to know about your company.

That second paragraph (the emphasis is mine) is key. When we speak to prospects looking to add a blog to their marketing mix, we emphasize this point along with the following point that a blog that's not consistently update has the same effect as a storefront with broken windows and no inventory. It's not good for your business image.

It bears repeating that a business blog is a marketing tool and like any other tactic you use to market your business, it must be done consistently and professionally to get the results you want.

Juan Tornoe's article is excellent so do read it when you get a chance.