Is a Blog Right For Your Business?

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:

  • Can you regularly update it - at least five times a week?
  • Do you have something to say other than just linking to others?
  • Do you read other blogs or feeds?
  • Can you provide information of value to others not just to yourself?
  • How large is your newsletter subscriber list?
  • How many unique visitors do you get on an average day, week or month?

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/.

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Even a 70 Something Technological Challenged Mom Can Get Started in Blogging With These 10 Tips

Blogging is all the rage. With these 10 Simple Steps... Read More

What is a Blog? In Plain English Please

If you are fairly new to the Internet, you have... Read More

Blogs Explained

It seems like Blogs are everywhere these days. You can't... Read More

What Will Microsofts New RSS Windows Mean To You As A Computer And Internet User?

Nothing and a whole lot!That's if Microsoft gets it right.... Read More

Marketing With Blogs - Part 3

In part 1 and part 2 of this article series... Read More

Cash In Your Blog - 4 Ways to Profit From The Hidden Revenue In Your Blog

Most webmasters and online business owners know that a blog... Read More

What is an RSS Aggregator or RSS Reader?

I keep hearing about RSS, XML and RSS feeds. I... Read More

Blogging For Business Bible

The items covered here are:1) Don't Wait before Blogging.2) Using... Read More

Fun Free Feed Tools For Both The Publisher And The Reader

As you've probably been reading, there are basically three problems... Read More

Business: Deliver Information Safely

Businesses that are not using feeds today, as part of... Read More

Your RSS Feed Might Look Like Spam

RSS feeds seem to be the breakout technology for the... Read More

Tips for Better Blogging - Promote any Product or Service

People start blogs for all kinds of reasons. Ego. Political... Read More

How RSS Advertising Can Help Business Gain A Higher ROI

I recently read the case study conducted by Pheedo, an... Read More

Article Syndication - A New Vehicle for King Content

Creating ContentNew websites are being launched daily. In order to... Read More

5 New Internet Marketing Opportunities Through RSS

When it comes to new internet marketing opportunities for your... Read More

What Blog Can Make Money?

How to blog to make money from it?Truly the whole... Read More

RSS Can Keep You In The Loop

When webmasters first hear about RSS they tend to concentrate... Read More

Promoting Your Business Using Blogs

Internet marketing using blogs has quickly gained a lot of... Read More

Using QuickSub To Make It Easier For Your Visitors To Subscribe To Your Feed

You can make it easier for your visitors to subscribe... Read More

Creating A Basic RSS Feed For Your Site

The future of RSS Feeds and internet marketing is looking... Read More

3 Ways to Publish RSS

As RSS news syndication gains popularity among users, new ways... Read More

The Power of the BLOG

Can a Blog earn you a prison sentence? Ask Mojtaba... Read More

Blog Your Way To a Successful Private Practice

What is a Blog?Blogs are a type of website often... Read More

RSS - A New Face of Online Marketing

Today we see the Internet as a global catalog of... Read More

Blogging Advice - Give Your Readers What They Want

Web gives a lot of exposure; weblog stabilizes the exposure... Read More

How and Why to RSS

RSS feeds and blogs (and blog and pinging) are part... Read More

Blood Test for Your Blog?

Are you contributing to one of the estimated 36.1 million... Read More

Feeds For Small Business: Real World Examples

A merchant I was talking to the other day asked... Read More

Blogging Your Way To Success Part 2

(Continued from Blogging Your Way To Success Part 1)By now,... Read More

Blogs and Networking

In the middle 1990's everyone started talking about needing a... Read More

To Blog or Not to Blog: Are Blogs Becoming More Popular than Forums, Newsletters and E-zines?

Blogging is hot, and seems to be becoming hotter each... Read More

Is a Blog Right For Your Business?

Lemmings are cute, but dumb. If you tell them... Read More

24 Tips and Strategies on How Everyone Can Blog Right and Get Everybody to Read

By the end of 2004 blogs had established themselves as... Read More