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.
Blog content is king
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.
Who should venture where one has not blogged before?
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.
Pick a niche
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. For an explanation of
syndication and feed readers, refer to What Is This RSS, XML,
RDF, and Atom Business? 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.
Blogs in disguise use the same tools
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. Women’s Spirituality is one such site. Karen Casey may not
use the blog, but she does have discussions surrounding the
articles she writes.
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.