Blog Posts About: Weblogs and Business

Chad Dickerson: March 02, 2004 Archives

Chad Dickerson, InfoWorld's Chief Technology Officer has posted a couple of paragraphs that answer the question "Why bother with a blog?"

A lot of these folks are asking, "What is my return on weblogs? Why do weblogs?" In financial terms, because weblogs are so simple to produce, I think the business folks should focus more on the minimal "I" involved -- the investment. There is very little financial risk in starting a weblog, so clearly-defined returns aren't as necessary.

Via: Scobleizer

In May of 2003, my fiancée and I put up crown moulding in our bedroom. I blogged the process on my personal weblog at leelefever.com with pictures and descriptions, just for fun. Soon after I posted it, I noticed I was getting a lot of hits to that page and did a little research.

I titled the post “Crown Moulding Installation�? and I soon realized that Google searches for “Crown Moulding Installation�?(google search) produced my site at the #1 position. This has been true for the last half of 2003 and the first part of this year.

Because of this Google ranking, I get between 50 and 100 people coming to this entry each day. What is really interesting to me is the technical support discussion that is occurring in the comments of the entry. On a weekly basis, people come through and ask a question about crown moulding and myself or someone else will try to answer it. So far there have been over 30 comments. Here’s a recent comment:

Lee, thanks so much for the encouragement. You were right on. The project was not at all difficult and it came out just beautifully. For me, the caulking at the end was the most painstaking but I am very particular so it had to be perfect. Thanks again.

Of course, I’m no home improvement expert and I’ve been reminded many times that my pictures show that we actually hung the moulding upside down. I’ve warned readers that just because I have a web site doesn’t mean I know what I’m doing.

I think this is a testament to weblogs and their ability to appeal to small and finite niche. I’m not an expert and it obvious on the site. There are plenty of non-experts out there trying to hang moulding themselves. By finding a weblog entry by obvious amateurs, the other amateurs felt at home discussing the basics of their project with peers.

OK, you probably know about all the social networkings sites like Orkut, Friendster, Tribe etc. They are very popular (perhaps too popular). Lately folks have been considering how weblogs differ from these services. Below I've listed a few references to thoughtful posts on the subject:

Biz Stone: How to Network with Blogger

Social networking applications barrage you with questions about your hair color, favorite TV show and what kind of pet you have. Does this communicate who you really are? Blogger provides a big, blank space for you to divulge your soul. Or anything else you think is significant. As the weeks and months go by, your readers develop a true sense of what you're all about.

Dina Mehta: My Blog is my Social Software and my Social Network

My blog is my social software. It is also my social network.
It has my profile and much more - it has my identity fleshed out, through my posts.

Scott Allen: How to network with your blog, Part 2 This one is filled with tactics and links to tools that will help you get a handle on all the services and products that can help.

I’m not saying that you should blog instead of participating in online social networks. I’m just saying that if you’re not blogging, you’re missing out on one of the very most effective ways to build visibility and credibility on the Internet.

Here's my take: My weblog represents me and how I want to represent myself and my business to the world. There is not a networking service out there that can represent me better. No single service can account for an individual's style in the way that a weblog does.

Further, the constant updates of a weblog in the context of the person's own style and presentation allows readers to get a close-to-complete picture of the person over time. These relationships are developed over time and through reading and writing, not because two people both like sushi and have blue eyes.

Kathleen of the Otter Group has posted a weblog entry about an article written for the Univ. of Maryland's student newspaper called "Campus weblog use could explode"

A quote from the original article, focusing on Matthew Kirschenbaum, English professor:

"Three weeks into the semester, there are 125 student comments on my class blog," he said. "There's much less discussion on a course e-mail list than on a blog."

Kathleen also added an excerpt from an email between she and professor Kirschenbaum about the blog-based discussions vs. email lists:

Couple of reasons I think: one, like all the rest of us, my students now get a lot more email than they used to. Course-related mail gets mixed in with the usual jumble of spam and whatever else. All too easy just to hit the delete key. Two, the blog allows them to see their ideas instantly published on the Web. Email is a closed world, a self-contained loop between the instructor and the other students. With the blog, the fourth wall is always open.

Robert Scoble (The Scobleizer) has posted common sense and on-target information about weblogs and business.

I liked this point about the marketing orientation of companies (Very Cluetrain-esque. ):

First of all, if your company isn't worried about what the "watercooler networks" are saying about your products and services, then no need to worry about doing a weblog. If you think that the only marketing you should do is to buy a $100,000 billboard along the freeway, or buy a $500,000 ad in USA Today, or a million dollar ad during the Super Bowl, then weblogging is probably not for you.

Read the whole post- it lists how companies can use blogs to tap into the word-of-mouth networks that are becoming a powerful form of marketing.

Via: Streamline

I thought this was an easy to understand post that comparesBusiness Blogs to Email Newsletters.

I think the Wayne Hulbert makes good points, but I also think that weblogs are not a replacement for email newsletters. This is because of the way that email newsletters push information to inboxes. The expectation is different for the reader (something coming to me vs. me having to go to something).

To truly compare weblogs to email newsletters, you'd need to consider the role of RSS in pushing weblog posts out to subscribers. Much like someone would subscribe by email, people in the future will subscribe via RSS.

In my mind this is because people are lazy. OK, maybe not lazy- but many will not be proactive in seeking out information- but if it comes to them, it's more useful.

In looking at the push abilities of RSS, I do believe that weblogs can be seen as a replacement for email newsletters.

Oh, and... Happy Valentine's Day!
:)