Lemmings are cute, but dumb. If you tell them to jump off a cliff, they will. Just like the people who start blogs because everyone is doing it. Guess what happens after a little while? The blogs die.
In managing a list of many Web sites, most of which are blogs, I deleted countless sites from the list because the sites and blogs no longer existed. The people ran out of steam or had no reason to start them in the first place.
How do you know when a blog is right for your business? Learn why people start blogs, how they find their niche and how blogging tools can be used for more than blogs.
Some people like to read blogs, others like to read newsletters, still others like to rely on feeds and some read a few or all of them. No matter the method the information is distributed, each medium has one thing in common: content. Having a blog connects your newsletter and your business with all of these readers and delivers important content in a particular style.
I've been blogging since June 2000. If you review my early blog entries in meryl's notes, you'll notice they're more personal. When blogs first hit the scene in the late '90s, they were personal diaries and journals. Like the blog business, my blog has transformed from personal to business speak, although I still add personal notes here and there.
A few bloggers tend to talk about their work, their products and their little world. That might work for celebrities where fans want to know everything about them, but it doesn't work for the average business person. Other business people want information on how to succeed and when a blog spends time hawking products offering information of no value, few people will return. The people whose products sell well are the ones who provide valuable information. Readers already know what kind of information they're getting, so they trust that when they buy something, it will be of the same or better quality. This value must be reflected in their blog. It's much like people who only sign up for a newsletter after first seeing an example.
No one wants to be a lemming (I would hope). How do you decide whether or not to set up a blog? The answer isn't black or white (what did you expect?). Ask these questions:
The big decider is whether or not you can write in the blog almost daily. The people behind the high traffic blogs post multiple times a day. Though resourceful, merely linking to other sites doesn't give visitors much reason to make the effort to come to yours. Reading other blogs or feeds is a great way to learn how to carry a discussion. Find other blogs covering topics similar to yours and check them out. Disagree with their opinions? Write about it and explain your reasons. Cross-blog discussions are common, and that's where trackback comes in handy.
Trackback is a blog feature. If you decide to comment on another blog posting in your blog instead of in that blog's comments page, then you link to the conversation through the trackback link. Trackback is similar to the permalink, the permanent URL for the blog entry, but it has a different URL for copying and pasting in your blog's trackback box.
Aside from the technical aspects of operating a blog on a daily basis, subscriber list size and Web site traffic are good indicators of what kind of reaction you'll get when opening a blog. Starting from scratch with little traffic means you have a long road ahead and lots of work to do. There is no magic formula anyone can sell you for $97 to make your blog an overnight success. But with some perseverance and ingenuity, your blog can engage many prospects and clients.
Considering there are numerous blogs out there, pick a niche topic when starting a blog for a better shot at attracting and keeping an audience. meryl's notes focuses on three areas: webby, geeky and wordy. In reality, this is too much. What I need to do for my readers is create three separate blog entry points, so those interested in writing, newsletters and Internet marketing get nothing but the wordy entries. Those interested in Web design get the webby stuff and the technophiles receive the geeky content.
I also manage a personal blog separate from meryl's notes. It's about cochlear implants and deafness. This could fall under the geeky category, but it's a personal blog and doesn't belong in meryl's notes. This blog is written for a different audience.
The blogging tools for both of my blogs come with syndication capabilities so those using feed readers or aggregators can read the content through the software. When sending a new issue of a newsletter, comment on it or link to it in the blog, that way the blog and feed readers will get the goods, so all three bases are covered.
Blogging tools aren't just for, well, blogging. Such tools are an excellent way to help you update your Web site more often than you otherwise would. I use it to manage the list of tableless Web sites. Using blogging tools is much easier than the way I managed it before, updating the HTML files by hand. Though using a blog tool, it isn't a blog. In this case, the blog tool has become a content management system (CMS).
Small business owners don't have a need for the fancy and pricey CMSes out there. They find it easier to use blogging software to manage their sites or hire someone to adapt the tool for their site.
Blogs have found a place in businesses and people are finding creative ways to use them. Some companies have a blog on the intranet for communicating project status, jeopardies and metrics. They're used for knowledge management. With information pouring in, blog tools provide a way to share, organize and process the information.
Being a follower can be good or bad. No one wants to walk off a cliff with the lemmings, but everyone wants to succeed. Best practices won't help, since the decision to blog is based on the organization's mission, needs and goals along with its target market's desires and needs. A blog about lemmings? There is one, sort of. Or maybe you'd like to start your own and talk about dumb business moves.
Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven behind meryl.net who increases conversion rates by writing and editing content so organization can focus on their core business. She is the editor-in-chief of the eNewsletter Journal and Shavlik's The Remediator Security Digest. Visit her Web site at http://www.meryl.net/blog/.
Blogging is all the rage. With these 10 Simple Steps... Read More
If you are fairly new to the Internet, you have... Read More
It seems like Blogs are everywhere these days. You can't... Read More
Nothing and a whole lot!That's if Microsoft gets it right.... Read More
In part 1 and part 2 of this article series... Read More
Most webmasters and online business owners know that a blog... Read More
I keep hearing about RSS, XML and RSS feeds. I... Read More
The items covered here are:1) Don't Wait before Blogging.2) Using... Read More
As you've probably been reading, there are basically three problems... Read More
Businesses that are not using feeds today, as part of... Read More
RSS feeds seem to be the breakout technology for the... Read More
People start blogs for all kinds of reasons. Ego. Political... Read More
I recently read the case study conducted by Pheedo, an... Read More
Creating ContentNew websites are being launched daily. In order to... Read More
When it comes to new internet marketing opportunities for your... Read More
How to blog to make money from it?Truly the whole... Read More
When webmasters first hear about RSS they tend to concentrate... Read More
Internet marketing using blogs has quickly gained a lot of... Read More
You can make it easier for your visitors to subscribe... Read More
The future of RSS Feeds and internet marketing is looking... Read More
As RSS news syndication gains popularity among users, new ways... Read More
Can a Blog earn you a prison sentence? Ask Mojtaba... Read More
What is a Blog?Blogs are a type of website often... Read More
Today we see the Internet as a global catalog of... Read More
Web gives a lot of exposure; weblog stabilizes the exposure... Read More
RSS feeds and blogs (and blog and pinging) are part... Read More
Are you contributing to one of the estimated 36.1 million... Read More
A merchant I was talking to the other day asked... Read More
(Continued from Blogging Your Way To Success Part 1)By now,... Read More
In the middle 1990's everyone started talking about needing a... Read More
Blogging is hot, and seems to be becoming hotter each... Read More
Lemmings are cute, but dumb. If you tell them... Read More
By the end of 2004 blogs had established themselves as... Read More
A blog is an online journal in which the author... Read More
Why would you use Blogs instead of a web site... Read More
Have you thought about how easily you could build and... Read More
It seems like everyone is talking about RSS Feeds. They've... Read More
A blog usually is a web page that contains brief,... Read More
Of all people in the world I was easily one... Read More
Earlier this month, Realtor Magazine announced that they would be... Read More
The RSS latest news suggests that RSS can stand for... Read More
Live Bookmark is Mozilla's response to offering RSS feeds through... Read More
There are nowhere near the amount of webmasters using RSS... Read More
11 Ways to Promote Your Blog1. Ping weblogs.com and other... Read More
I read over a lot of blogs each week, casually... Read More
For some it's just a fun thing to do, while... Read More
Blogs, are often defined as frequent and ongoing publications of... Read More
For many people blogging is the way in which they... Read More
"Why Should I Blog? I Simply Don't Get It"This post... Read More
RSS, or Really Simple Syndication as it is commonly known,... Read More
Can a Blog earn you a prison sentence? Ask Mojtaba... Read More
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." It's a format that... Read More
"RSS" stands for "Really Simple Syndication". It is a new... Read More
(This article assumes that you have already set up a... Read More
Businesses that are not using feeds today, as part of... Read More
Blogging, the hottest trend in online publishing right now, is... Read More
Blogs are the hottest thing going these days when it... Read More
Below are the top 9 reasons why companies should blog.1.... Read More
Welcome to part 2 of the article that aims to... Read More
It seems everyone these days is talking about blogging. Everywhere... Read More
So why use RSS? Well, I can find a whole... Read More
The more I use Wordpress, the more I love it.... Read More
"RSS" stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS is a standard... Read More
Your favorite thing about having a blog may soon be... Read More
"What's blogging?" you ask."Where have you been?" I reply...just kidding,... Read More
(Continued from Blogging Your Way To Success Part 1)By now,... Read More
Blogging, RSS & Feeds |