To Blog or Not to Blog?
How Businesses Can Get Closer toTheir Markets through Blogging
The Content Factor
Digital and analog copy
Table of Contents
What Are “Blogs” and Where Did They Come From?............................
3
What Does Blogging Have to Do with Business?..................................
4
Ten Rules for Starting Your Corporate Blogging Off Right.......................
6
1. Read Before You Write.......................................................................
7
2. Links Are Key. ...................................................................................
7
3. Don’t Use Your Own Blog to Sing the Praises of Your Company.........
8
4. Don’t Spam in Comments or Email...................................................
8
5. Monitor What Bloggers Are Saying About You...................................
9
6. Don’t Do Denial..............................................................................
10
7. Comments—Tread Carefully. ...........................................................
11
8. Set Your Employees Free (Because They Already Are).....................
12
9. Don’t Forget Traditional Marketing and PR. .....................................
12
10. Aggregators Are Great—But Start Small. .......................................
13
There’s a Blog in Your Future (even if it’s not your own)........................
14
Key Corporate Blogging Resources.....................................................
15
To Blog or Not to Blog?
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To Blog or Not to Blog?
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What Are “Blogs” and Where Did They Come From?
If there is a single truth about blogging, it’s thatbloggers have differing opinions on just abouteverything—including the question of what a blog is(and isn’t) and how they came to be. Briefly described,“blog” is an abbreviated form of the term “weblog,”which was coined in the late 1990s to describepersonal web sites that were updated regularly, withindividual “posts”—date-stamped journal entries—usually presented inreverse chronological order, the most up-to-date writing first. Blogs arean engaging alternative to static web sites because they offer somethingnew to read, usually every day and sometimes several times each day.Whether serving as a site for news and opinion, or as a personal diary,most blogs share several characteristics. These include a conversationaltone, frequent posts, and links to other sites, especially other blogs.Bloggers are uniquely audience and author at once. Those who writeblogs daily also read them with gusto, which is how conversation amongbloggers takes shape. Bloggers refer to one another in their writing,linking to posts on the same or similar topics, which results in a richdialogue among people with shared interests.A stepchild of the dot-com boom (and bust), blogs were few and farbetween throughout the 1990s—primarily, they were the hand-cobbledcreations of IT professionals and technology enthusiasts. For example, atthe beginning of 1999, there were an estimated two to three dozenweblogs in existence. In 2001, when Evan Williams brought his smallsoftware company Blogger (www.blogger.com) to market offering“pushbutton publishing for the people,” blogging became as easy asfilling in an online form: typing into the Blogger window and clicking the“Publish” button. Other, similar software tools also splashed into themarket then, giving would-be authors more options, creativity, andopportunity to join the growing “blogosphere”—the loose-knit butincreasingly recognizable global network of blogs and related projects. By the end of 2004, there were nearly four million blogs online,according to Technorati (www.technorati.com), an organization thattracks the growth of the blogging world. As of March 2005, the numberof blogs had climbed to 7.8 million, with more than 900 million linksbetween and among blogs, and between 30,000 to 40,000 new blogscreated each day. During the week of May 16, 2005, Technorati trackedits ten millionth blog.
“When people talk,listen completely.”
Ernest Hemingway(1899-1961)
Figure 1: Technorati Homepage
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