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“Everyone is too scared to use the Internet to buy things”.

Remember when they said that? It’s not that long ago.

Look at us now. People can and do buy anything and everything
from the web. The fear, really a fear of change has gone.

They said TV would destroy the cinema. That didn’t
happen. The movies are a completely different form to TV but we
didn’t realise at the time. TV and cinema both survived and now
both feed off each other.

In hindsight we all see what was perfectly obvious.

Now they’re saying that Blogs, or weblogs are taking over the
Internet.

A blog is effectively an online journal where you, or a group,
can record their innermost thoughts and make comments about a
topic. Anyone has access to read your journal entry (known as a
post) and can comment on it.

For much more detailed information about blogging look at the
entry in wikipedia for “Blogging.“

You get over 474 million search results if you enter “blog” into Google.

Part of the reason for the blogs attraction is its ease of use. It takes only a few minutes to begin “blogging”.

First you sign up with a blog server, like Google’s Blogger, SixApart’s TypePadblog or use Wordpress.

You choose a page template you like. There are a number of very good ones available completely free. Then post your first
entry.

The final step is to let a blog directory know each time you
create a new post (this is called pinging). Services such as
Pingoat and Pingomatic are sites that can ping a number
of other directories on your behalf.

People search these directories using blog search engines
and browse the blogs in a similar way to web sites.

Do Companies Really Use Blogs?

Company executives use blogs. For example Bob Lutz, Vice
President of General Motors has his own blog. Other people from
GM contribute to it as well. IBM Vice President Bob Sutor and
Vice President of Marketing for Boeing Randy Baseler write their
own blogs too.

Employees from corporates like Microsoft, Google and Hewlett
Packard blog.

When blogging is used in a positive way it shows your customers
and prospects your corporate personality and helps build rapport.

What Are The Blog Downsides?

The company CEO shouldn’t blog. That’s because there may be
pressure to flag future events. Or worse, if they drop a clanger
it can be spread world-wide very quickly.

A further potential blogging downside is that you’ve no influence over
what others put in their own blogs about what you’ve written.

You only need to look at some of the comments that General Motors got on Bob Lutz’s blog when they started a discussion on seatbelts to see how heated things can get.

Companies may be concerned that employees will spend too much
time blogging or reading blogs. That means a blogging policy
should be in place to prevent such abuse.

What Is The Advantage Of A Blog?

A blog can position someone, or a company, as an expert. But people can easily pass other people’s work off as their own. So it really is a case of “buyer beware” when reading blogs.

So are blogs going to be a knock-out for attracting and retaining customers?

The short answer is it depends, and the reasons are:

1) It’s just another marketing communication channel - it can be used well or not. Rather like PR is used.
2) For some companies it’s just too public
3) It’s completely without editoral control
4) It requires commitment to update regularly and to check and
respond to comments

It’s been said that consultancies and other organisations that
deal in knowledge and intellectual property benefit most from
blogging. That’s because they can demonstrate their ability and
expertise to their market in a different way from other marketing
tactics.

But really why should it stop there? General Motor’s blog is
useful for communicating new model launches and answering
customer feedback.

In fact there really is no practical limit to the who can use
blogging to communicate with customers and prospects.

But In The End Is Blogging A Dead-end?

The business blog is definitely an important communication tool
that every company should seriously consider as part of their
marketing arsenal. But it must be looked at as another business
tool whose ultimate measurement is: “does it get more sales or
reduce company costs?”

If it can’t deliver at least one of those measures business
blogging deserves to fail.

I’ve been blogging for over a year now and I’ve found that I’ve had thousands of hits. Intentionally I don’t get any sales from it. But that’s because I’m writing mini articles and will eventually use them as a basis for my next book.

So in the final analysis blogs are another communication channel so companies have the ability to take theirs and make it do the PR, word of mouth, viral and Internet marketing for them.

Internet advertising has grown into big business. Expect blogging to do the same.

Jim Symcox, The Marketing Magician, has worked as a business consultant since the mid 1980’s.

He is a copywriter, marketing evangelist and coach and the author of the short and snappy ebook “How to Leap Ahead Of Your Competitors”.

For a free copy of “How To Leap Ahead Of Your Competitors email web@acornservice.com with “ezine” in the subject line.

Go to http://www.Acornservice.com to opt in to Jim’s free and no obligation email seminar series on business growth (including a module called “How To Create Your USP”).

For regular up to the minute nuggets on marketing, internet marketing and business check out the Power Packed Business Growth Blog at http://www.acornservice.blogspot.com.

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Web logs, popularly known as blogs, have become one of the hottest communication tools on the Web. Offering the opportunity for anyone to create their own free Web site, encouraging opinions and interaction, blogs provide forums for individuals to create their own highly personal presentations to the Web audience, and for consortia of all types to experience the sort of online community feeling that was pioneered by early newsgroups and by the phenomenal success of AOL in the 1990s.

Blogs have reached into the corporate and government sectors as well. A prominent federal magazine suggests that some company employees spend more time blogging than on personal e-mail, an average of over an hour a day. What started out as an outlet for teenage expression and grassroots journalism has turned into a lucrative communications tool for small and large businesses alike.

General Motors’ Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz, turned to the company’s blog when rumors surfaced about the discontinuation of the Pontiac and Buick brands. It became a means for a direct response, a way to talk to their consumers unfiltered.
Other companies such as Sun Microsystems and Microsoft are also recognizing the impact of blogging in their relationships with their customers and employees. In an article dated June 5, 2005, The Washington Post proposed that there were more than 100 official corporate blogs in existence, with hundreds more on the horizon.

Although a major newspaper called blogging “ephemeral, fast-paced and scathingly opinionated,” blogs continue to grow steadily in the corporate world and companies are realizing their value.

Corporate Blogging

Internal Communication

Corporate Blogging refers to a company producing or supporting a blog that it uses to accomplish business objectives. A blog can serve many purposes in a corporate setting. Internally, a blog can be a forum for discussion about work-related issues.

The informal atmosphere is encouraging to internal corporate communication. From small-scale discussions to virtual “town meetings,” in which employees at all levels feel that they can be heard, blogs promote collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Blogging can help establish a company or employee as an expert in their field. By posting information about a certain topic, a person exhibits their knowledge of the subject matter, setting himself up as an authority. People will come to equate the site and the author with that topic. This reputation for subject mastery and expertise can boost your sales and consumer opinion.

A blog can be an interactive addition to an intranet or e-mail newsletters. Since automatic update notification is possible on blogs, people are more likely to stay on top of the latest postings.

Public Communication

Blogs can be used to communicate to prospects, clients, employees and the media. Press releases and project updates can be posted, as well as job opportunities or information that the company wants to distribute outside of the normal news channels.

A blog can strengthen the bonds between the company and its customers. When a company presents itself honestly and transparently, it not only builds trust, but instills loyalty as well. Customers are more likely to work with a company they feel they know better than another. Blogs allow for that informal communication. They create good word-of-mouth among customers who don’t read the trade magazines or business pages. The nature of a blog fosters that image of transparency and openness for a company. Most people prefer companies who are honest in their dealings and frank about their issues. As seen in the media with the Dan Rather case, a blog can illuminate the truth through encouraging people to share what they know.

Blogging also reflects forward thinking. By staying current with the technological trends, you give your company a fresh image.

A blog can serve as a recruiting method. Interested job seekers can examine the company by reading its blog.

When testing a new product or service, a blog is an excellent place to give more detailed instructions or receive feedback.

Although, comments can be negative. Not everyone will agree with what is said on a blog. Instead of preventing them, welcome the constructive criticism and edit comments only to remove profanity and personal attacks.

The Down Side

There are some drawbacks to blogging. It is not a magic solution to your business needs. Many people feel that blogging popularity is much like the Internet in the 90’s, a promise of money, but not necessarily delivery.

Blogging can lead to legal issues as well. Companies have real concerns about liability, exclusions and limitations, and indemnity. Although there are laws that protect against libel, misappropriations and other injuries suffered as a result of posts on the Web, companies can be held vicariously responsible for statements made by employees that are harmful to others.
In any medium where an employee is sharing information, there is the possibility of leaking trade secrets or financial information. Former Google employee Mark Jen was famously fired for gabbing about life at the company on his personal blog, not sanctioned by Google.

Like all essentially unfiltered communication, blogs can get personal. Many bloggers feel the need to discuss their personal lives as well as their professional ones. Companies must be careful not to stifle communications by keeping personal lives out of the workplace. By doing this, they risk closing down the lines of communication entirely.

Inevitably, a disgruntled employee may use this as an opportunity to badmouth the company. This is not limited to blogs, since an unhappy employee has a variety of mediums through which to vent his disapproval. Blogs just make it easy.
The content may not have enough substance to warrant or hold an audience. Some companies fill their blog with marketing fluff. People can see right through this and will most likely ignore the site. Blogs should be used for transparency, not shameless self-promotion.

Best Practices

Fine Print. Since there are so many legal issues surrounding blogs, it is imperative that the site has some sort of disclaimer and limitation of liability.

Know What You’re Doing. Senior management should be educated by the corporate communications and legal department about what blogs are and how they might affect business.

Create Blogging Policies. A company should have a list of policies regarding blogging to ensure that trade secrets are kept secret and personal lives do not become public. Policies may include keeping financial information from being posted, as well as severe consequences for anyone using the blog for negative publicity.

Avoid the Marketing Blog. Making your blog into a blatant marketing campaign is a bad idea. Customers are looking for real answers and honest opinions. They will pick up on insincerity instantly.

Keep It Fresh. Make content relevant and timely. Update the blog as often as possible with the most worthwhile news. This will encourage people to come back.

Reinforce the Company’s Core Values. Then, make sure the content fits these values and supports the business strategy.

Encourage employees to use it, but remind them of the ramifications of their actions.

Free versus Paid Products

When creating a blog, there are hundreds of services and software from which to choose. The first decision to make is whether to go with a free service or pay for one.

For paid services, the cost varies depending on the features used. The basic hosting fee for a domain is anywhere from $5 to $15 a month. The domain name will need to be registered yearly, which can cost $5 to $35. This does not include the software, which may also have to be purchased.

While free services offer the basic necessities of blogging, paid services are usually more desirable since they have more to offer.

With a free service, the company offers a free site, but it may contain advertisements to offset the cost of maintenance. A paid site will not have any advertisements.

Most free services have a variety of templates to choose from for the look of the site, but paid services offer highly customizable designs.

In addition to the basic functions, paid blogs offer the ability to upload photos and images and tailor links on the site. They also offer better security and allow the creator to censor or control comments. Paid sites normally lead to a higher search engine ranking. They enable the creator to configure search output and there are fewer restrictions placed on paid sites.

Paid news aggregators will often keep a list of recently updated blogs and will rank them, showing new sites and newly added photo albums.

For a simple blog, any free service will do, but to get a truly customized and highly functioning product, it will take paying something for it.

RSS Feeds

With the rising popularity of blogs, it has become increasingly time-consuming to keep track of ones that are of interest. No one has time to check each and every favorite blog every day to search for new content. RSS feeds have become the solution.

RSS feeds are small XML files that contain a headline, date/time and description and link to information published on a blog. When used along with a feed reader, or news aggregator, they give an update on the newest content that has been added to a blogging site to a subscribed user.

RSS was developed in several different versions, each with a different meaning. RSS can stand for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary or RDF Site Summary, depending on the version used. All versions do the same thing, though. They provide a summary of information. They send a blog’s highlights to subscribers instantly upon publication. RSS feeds save the user from having to visit the site for updates.

To receive RSS feed, a user must have a feed reader, also commonly referred to as a news aggregator. This can be software, a Web-based service, extension or built into a browser. It essentially takes the XML code and translates it into readable information. When the “update” button on the feed reader is clicked, it searches all of the subscribed sites’ RSS feed for new information.

Having a RSS feed greatly increases the traffic to a blogging site because it provides an easy way to keep an audience abreast of the latest developments. Once someone is a subscriber, he will continue to be involved in the site. RSS also makes it easier for someone to add a site as a link onto their own site.

Blogging inherently encourages communication and the transfer of ideas. Blogging lets businesses extend their reach and strengthen consumer loyalty, as well as get people talking about their product. It’s a matter of perception, encouraging integrity and strengthening relationships in the corporate world. Blogging has become the trademark of forward thinking companies willing to suffer a few stings in order to get to the benefits it has to offer.

Kari White is a Content Developer for Brook Group, LTD, a Web development firm near Washington, DC. For more information about Web marketing, visit Brook Group’s Resources page.

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